Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate what the Minister has said, that the strategy will be published in a matter of weeks, but we still do not know how to provide, for instance, for a woman who may be in crisis in County Leitrim tonight who has no service in that county or in any of the counties around her. That is the reality today. Is the State proposing to build or buy or look at existing Government-owned facilities that can be renovated or used to provide refuge spaces? What is the plan to provide those spaces and the services around them? I know the Minister has mentioned spaces that may be adjacent to existing services. That is all well and good, but there are no services at all in some counties. That is a key problem that needs to be examined.

This is a very significant problem in the larger urban areas in particular. As we know, accommodation is practically non-existent and many of the voluntary organisations that have done so much in this regard - charities, basically, that go out rattling a bucket to get a few bob to do it - depend on finding bed and breakfast accommodation. They cannot get these facilities any more because they are gone. We have another crisis that has overshadowed all of that, so that needs to be recognised.

See this speech in context