Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)

I welcome the fact that there is an investigation of how to access money to open Teach Tearmainn in Kildare. It appears from the Minister's comments that the money will be accessed. It is important to get that facility up and running.

However, I am still a little concerned about some of the points made. All the reports show there has been an increase in domestic violence and in violence against women in the home. There is concern in the Cosc office and in SAFE Ireland that progress is slow and that issues are not being dealt with quickly enough. SAFE Ireland recommends that the needs and experience of victims be centre stage in any action being implemented. It does not believe that is being taken on board and I ask the Minister to make a point of doing that.

Although the Minister says the Government is fully committed on this issue, it must sign up to the Council of Europe convention on preventing and combating domestic violence. That will clearly indicate that the Government fully supports the convention. A total of 17 countries have already signed up to it and Ireland is in a small group of countries that have not signed it. I do not know why. I call on the Government to state that it will sign the convention within a short period. That will show it fully supports the convention.

It is scandalous that although the Council of Europe recommends that the north west of the country should have 24 family units, it only has two. It recommends that the west have 41 but it only has 11; it recommends 36 in the mid-west but there are only 20; it recommends 39 in the north east but there are only 22. This issue must be addressed and it is important that we address it soon. We cannot continue to listen to women on radio stations speaking in absolute despair and sorrow.

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