Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for attending to deal with this issue. It relates to the women's refuge Amber, which is based in Kilkenny city but covers both counties Carlow and Kilkenny. As one can imagine, this is quite a large area for one refuge. It can cater for seven women and 23 children. I invite the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, to visit the refuge. It is an excellent facility and does fantastic work. It is very much respectful of women's and children's individual privacy. It has been doing fantastic work in the area in recent years. Last year, however, the refuge could not deal with 320 referrals made to it. This was due to the fact that Amber is being asked to deal with very many emergency accommodation cases that arise in Carlow and Kilkenny. The service it provides and the role it plays concern domestic violence and women fleeing such violence. Everybody knows it can take an awful lot of courage and bravery to finally decide to leave certain circumstances, particularly if one has children. Where women make that decision and go to a service that says that, through no fault of its own, it cannot deal with them, the likelihood and reality are that most will return directly to the violent environment they left.

The service provided is not just accommodation. The refuge also provides counselling and supports in respect of courts and court orders. It provides great services for children, such as play therapy, which is vital. It should be allowed to do that work and concentrate solely on it. It should not be asked to take up the burden of the emergency accommodation situation in both Carlow and Kilkenny. I argue that we should have a stand-alone facility in Carlow. Realistically, if one is based in Carlow and one's children are going to school there, it is unrealistic to believe one can move to Kilkenny city and still be able to go about one's day-to-day life.

I ask that the Government consider having a stand-alone domestic violence facility for women and children in Carlow. It should also carry out an audit in the Carlow–Kilkenny area regarding emergency accommodation and domestic violence services and ensure adequate funding is put in place so the services can be separated. What is happening is completely unfair. Since being elected last year, I find myself time and again highlighting issues that directly and disproportionately affect women and children negatively. This is another example of that. I understand it is not the Minister of State's brief but he is very welcome to visit the facility. The staff would be happy about this. He would see at first hand the great work they do. I ask that adequate funding be put in place so emergency accommodation may be separated from domestic violence services and the services needed for the facility to be run adequately.

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