Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise on behalf of the Minister for Health, who is not available at present. I thank Deputy Rabbitte for raising this topical and important issue and I welcome the opportunity to clarify the Government's approach to the funding of domestic violence services generally. Cuan Álainn, as Deputy Rabbitte has said, provides second-stage accommodation for women and children who are experiencing domestic violence and who may have been in emergency accommodation. The centre opened in 2012 and is funded by Respond! Housing Association.

Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, allocates available funding for domestic violence to emergency refuge accommodation services and community-based domestic violence supports. Tusla endorses the use of second-stage refuge and supported accommodation to enable people to move on from emergency accommodation. While it does not currently fund such services, it has indicated that it hopes to support them in the future based on the direction it intends to pursue. Tusla met Respond! recently and advised that, as matters stand, it is not in a position to fund this service in the current year.

It might be helpful for Members if I share some background to the arrangements for dealing with this issue at a strategic level.

Due to the complex nature of the issues involved in domestic and sexual based violence, and the need for a co­ordinated and effective response to these issues, the National Office for the Prevention of Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence was established as an executive office in the Department of Justice and Equality in 2007 and that Department currently has overall policy responsibility in this area. It has formulated a comprehensive cross-Government strategy, which combines the efforts of a very broad range of organisations and individuals, to combat all forms of domestic, sexual and gender based violence. The national office is currently in the process of finalising a new cross-sectoral strategy from 2015 onwards.

In terms of service delivery, Tusla which was established on 1 January 2014, has taken on responsibility for the provision of domestic, sexual and gender based violence services which were previously funded by the HSE. For the first time this service is under national direction. We now have a single line of accountability and a consolidated national budget which is reserved for allocation to these particular services. Domestic, sexual and gender based violence services can now be delivered within a broad child and family support framework and this represents a significant change to the previous service delivery model.

Tusla will continue to work closely with service providers to ensure that women and children fleeing domestic abuse receive all necessary support and the position in respect of the Cuan Alainn service will be kept under review.

See this speech in context