Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There is one women's refuge centre in Wexford with four family bedrooms serving the entire county. In 2014, it turned away 338 women and 259 children. The figures for 2015 are not yet collated but we are told they are as bad if not worse than those for 2014.

Recently, the women's refuge centre in Wexford submitted, for the second time, a comprehensive funding application through the capital assistance scheme to buy a property that would be converted into 12 self-contained rooms which would allow it operate its emergency accommodation in line with international best practice. The second application was submitted a year ago along with plans, full costing and all the relevant documentation, but it has disappeared. The centre has been on to its local government representatives, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and other Departments but it seems it is being ignored by central government. It is finding it impossible to get feedback even about the status of its application.

I do not know if the Minister knows anything about this but I appeal to her to address that. We can only imagine where the 338 women who were turned away by the centre went that night. The State must take a serious look at this area.

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