Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Mattie McGrath. There has been a 25% increase in domestic violence since the start of Covid-19 from the Garda figures. The figure from the national helpline of Safe Ireland is 39%. Safe Ireland has stated that the Department of Justice and Equality and the Garda were phenomenal during the Covid crisis and I commend them on that. They are now dealing with an onslaught of women and families emerging out of their homes seeking help. At a time when we had Covid and we had less traffic on the roads, there were restrictions in place and the Garda was able to put a lot of its services into helping these families. Now the country is opening up again and we will have a lot of families emerging again and looking for help. The Garda resources are far from what is needed, even down to the vehicles that are required in each area. I ask the Minister that we look at this and invest in our Garda force and in the equipment it needs in order that it can provide these services. Does the Minister have a follow-up plan or sustainable package for the supports required for a Safe Ireland domestic violence service across the country? It wants the Government to build a positive response during lockdown and, importantly, to ensure that services can be guaranteed going forward. It wants a front-line-informed recovery plan which can be implemented to meet enormous demands on it after the Covid crisis. Safe Ireland wants to ensure that women and children fleeing violence after months of lockdown will not be forced to return to their unsafe homes. This was brought up earlier. Do we have the facilities across the country to help these people so that they will not have to return to their homes?

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