Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is a serious issue. It follows on from some of the issues the Minister raised previously on provisions and supports relating to domestic violence. She has also noted that it was raised by Women's Aid, which recently raised it at the Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs. Many people will probably find it shocking that there are situations where women have barring orders against their partners who have violent or abusive and there is no assessment of the safety of the children. An individual can have access arrangements to a child and it is up to the mother to facilitate it. She has to deal directly with the abusive ex-partner to arrange access. People like that feel that this is a risk. There also is no assessment of the child. Barnardos conducted a trial of supervised access centres to see if they could be considered and I note the Minister referred to family resource centres. I would like to think that we can revisit this proposal. I do not think that it comes down to funding as such.

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