Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government is to provide funding agreements for 2023 in the coming weeks. That is a big improvement. It seems so obvious that funding for 2023 should be agreed in 2022 but I have worked with organisations that have received funding for a given calendar year which was only signed off on in November of that same year. Obviously, they cannot work in that way. Not all of those people whose names I have read out were in situations of domestic violence. The violence against some, including Ashling Murphy and Raonaid Murray, which was at the most extreme end of the scale, was random in nature. However, that is not to say that domestic violence does not need to be treated with the same seriousness.

I have two questions. To what degree have domestic violence spaces been expanded already in 2022? Is there any update on the provision of a refuge in Dún Laoghaire, which does not have one? The funding is available, the local authority is behind the proposal and the Department has been engaged but it has still not been delivered. An update on that would be very helpful.

I will make one more point. As the Minister of State has said, refuge spaces are needed for people to get out of violent situations but they can also be needed at different stages of the criminal justice process. I am working with a woman and, with regard to her case, there is an arrest pending in whatever period of time. Even where people have already managed to very bravely get themselves out of difficult and violent situations, new moments of risk and threat can be created throughout the criminal justice process. It is really important that the Department is aware of that and of the safety needs of individuals, as I know An Garda Síochána is. There can be a requirement for people to go into safe and protected spaces at different stages of the criminal justice process. I ask that the Department anticipate that as it builds out refuge spaces. They are not just needed in emergency situations.

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