Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Rhetorical or even legal commitments to gender equality are welcome, all fine and good, but to deal with many of the most serious inequalities or disadvantages that women suffer, we need tangible supports for women. I recommend that we look at two areas: domestic violence and women's refuges to support women in situations of domestic violence. We are woefully inadequate in this regard. We are operating a standard of one to 10,000 women whereas across Europe it is one to 10,000 persons. Ireland is the only country that is doing this and that means we are massively under provided for.

I was shocked to learn during the week that the first purpose-built women's refuge, built in Rathmines, has been closed for two years, ostensibly because of rewiring that was needed to be done. However, that rewiring was completed in September of last year and that refuge is still not functional. The reason, it turns out, it is not functional is because Tusla is trying to outsource it. It is the only women's refuge that Tusla runs and Tusla is trying to offload it and offload and redeploy staff who have worked there for decades. Because of Tusla's determination to outsource or the Government's obsession with outsourcing, that will remain closed, maybe until the end of the year. This is a refuge that had thousands of callers and hundreds of women and children utilising it.

The other matter I will mention briefly is the pathetic lack of childcare facilities. For example, a considerable development in my area, the Honeypark-Cualanor housing development, which was a NAMA development, included provision for a crèche. There is no crèche, despite the development being completed a while ago, because it is dependent on the private market to deliver crèche facilities. A bit like housing, it is not happening. There is a stark lack of affordable crèche and childcare facilities and the State is hoping that the private sector will deliver. It is not delivering. The Government needs to intervene directly and provide public and affordable childcare facilities.

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