Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

One of the biggest impacts on society, particularly for women and children, is the massive surge we have seen in domestic violence. Shocking and disturbing figures have been announced. In the first six months of the pandemic, An Garda Síochána called to more than 27,000 domestic violence incidents. I dread to think what the figure might be today, nine months on. At the same time, the capacity in our refuges for women has decreased by 25% to comply with social distancing requirements. Behind all of these staggering figures and statistics are real people, with vulnerable women and children living in constant fear. In a report from Women's Aid, women disclose high levels of emotional, physical, sexual and financial abuse from their partners, in some cases as a direct result of the lockdown and pandemic, which, of course, had to be introduced to slow the spread of the virus. The mental health impact of domestic abuse on women has also been heightened during the restrictions, with some women reporting suicidal thoughts.

Only this week, we heard from the CEO of Parentline, Aileen Hickey, about the growing problems for parents in experiencing anger and aggression from children. There has been an increase of 27% from January to September this year. She described parents feeling loneliness and embarrassment trying to cope and revealed the shocking figure of a 400% increase in parents availing of the non-violent resistance programme.

The country was shocked to its core when the news filtered through of the murder of Clodagh Hawe and her three beautiful sons, Liam, Niall and Ryan. This brought into sharp focus the lack of provision of refuge and support for women and families when they find themselves trapped in this position, particularly in County Cavan. Our joint policing committee and many public representatives in our constituency have done their best to raise the important issue of the provision of a women's refuge in Cavan. The joint policing committee wrote to the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, and Tusla in the summer requesting a refuge for women and families. It is interesting to see that Tusla did respond, acknowledging the distinct gaps that exist in rural constituencies such as mine. It acknowledged there is no emergency domestic accommodation for women experiencing this awful tragedy in their lives when it comes upon them.

We are also aware that Tearmann Domestic Abuse Service in Monaghan does terrific work to support women and provides a wraparound service for families who need accommodation. However, we do not have constant accommodation in a refuge. We do not want to see any more deaths. We do not want to see any more families experience what the Hawe family did. We want to see a refuge in the constituency of Cavan-Monaghan. My constituency colleague, Deputy Tully, and all of us feel very strongly about this particular issue. We know there is a commitment under the Istanbul Convention and from Tusla that these facilities would be put in place. The Minister has ring-fenced funding for domestic violence. The closest accommodation for women and families in Cavan is in Navan, Dundalk or Drogheda, which are all miles away. The Minister is from close to the constituency. This is not practical for women or families who find themselves in this position. I ask the Minister to work with the Tusla and the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, to close these gaps in constituencies such as Cavan-Monaghan so that accommodation and safe shelter is found for those women and families who find themselves in these horrific circumstances.

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