Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I, along with many Deputies, attended last year a very moving presentation from SAFE Ireland, the umbrella group for domestic violence centres and groups. Its core crisis concerns the need to have enough refuge centres for women. As I am sure the Minister knows, one in five women in Ireland has reported she has been a victim of domestic abuse, either with her current or previous partner. This is a shocking statistic. How can the Minister assure the relevant organisations that the Government can offer them the real supports they need such that when a woman – it is almost always a woman - and her children present themselves in a crisis, they can be given the refuge they need?

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