Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

While we welcome the Government's decision to set up a statutory agency to oversee the State's response to domestic abuse, a number of issues flow from that, in particular the issue of maintenance and the difficulty people have in accessing maintenance through the current courts system, particularly when the defaulting party refuses to pay, where often abused spouses who live in refuges and shelters find themselves having to access the court system on a continual basis. Will this agency be given the power to step in and represent those people, particularly the most vulnerable among them, in relation to seeking maintenance?

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