James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is quite right. I am not instructing anybody or interfering in with Rape Crisis Network Ireland regarding how it spends its money or what it does with itself. That is its business. What is the business of a Minister and an agency representing the needs of those who have been victims of sexual or domestic violence is to ensure they have a front-line service. In her question the Deputy asserted that front-line services would close. They will not close, because they have been given the funding to stay open. Their funding has been protected. Funding has been removed from an element of RCNI relating to data collection. This is clearly very much incomplete, when only 11 of 16 rape crisis centres are affiliated to it. Those I remember straight off which are not affiliated to it are the centres in Dublin and Galway, which are two of the biggest. The decision of Tusla's board is correct. One would love, in an ideal world, to have the money to do everything, but one does not, and therefore choices must be made. When it comes to a choice between a front-line service and a data collection service I will stay with the front-line service, particularly if I am assured by the board of Tusla and its management that it can do the data collection itself in a more complete and efficient fashion.

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