Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Gould spoke first and raised the issue of domestic and gender-based violence. I once again put on the record of the House that this is a major priority for the Government, and especially for the Minister for Justice, Deputy Helen McEntee, who takes the lead on this and is very passionate about it. What we are doing is reflected in a range of policies and legislation, as well as unprecedented increases in budget allocations. Last year we published our five-year ambitious zero-tolerance strategy with funding of €363 million dedicated to it. One of the overarching goals is to ensure that everyone who needs a refuge space will get one. We are working closely with the sector and others to achieve this. We will double the number of refuge spaces over the lifetime of the strategy and we will meet our obligations under the Istanbul Convention on Domestic Violence.

The zero-tolerance strategy also sets a target to increase the number of safe homes. Last year an additional 12 safe homes were put in place and there will be a further increase from 32 to 50 by the end of this year. A new statutory agency under the aegis of the Department of Justice will be established to ensure a permanent dedicated focus on this important area of work. Under the strategy the Minister, Deputy McEntee, is progressing legislation to double the maximum sentence for assault causing harm, to update sexual offences legislation, including in relation to the law around consent, to continue reforms to put the victim at the centre of the criminal justice system, and also to improve the monitoring of sex offenders through the Sex Offenders (Amendment) Bill.

With regard to the Women's Aid impact report, there is no doubt that the figures are stark and shocking. There were more than 33,000 disclosures of domestic abuse against women and children last year, including 1,000 of sexual abuse. Four or five of those in contact were abused by a current or former male intimate partner. Contact with Women's Aid is up more than 16%. The report underlines the importance of implementing our strategy and the job now for the Government and society is for us as individuals to change things and to stop accepting the stark and disturbing figures, and to stop accepting domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, or the attitudes that underpin these crimes.

On the specific issue of refuge spaces - and I mentioned safe homes earlier - we have committed to doubling the number of refuge spaces. We are working to provide additional safe homes and step-down accommodation. The development of 24 units is currently under way at three locations in Wexford, Dundalk and Navan. We expect them to be completed by next year. A further 98 will be provided in priority locations by 2025, along with a further 19 additional upgraded units by the end of the strategy.

We have also published the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022, which will double the maximum sentence for assault causing harm, making stalking and non-fatal strangulation stand-alone offences, and expanding the existing harassment offence.

Deputy Boyd Barrett referred to long-term family homelessness. I agree it is unacceptably high. Family homelessness will happen from time to time but when it happens it should be rare, be brief and should not be repeated. I must check the numbers but I understand that in most cases we are able to find proper accommodation for families within a year, and for about half of the cases it is within six to seven months. I acknowledge that this is a long time in the life of a child. It can be complex. At the moment some 40% of people in emergency accommodation are not Irish citizens and many of those are not entitled to social housing. We are drilling down into more detail on that, so we will have better figures in the months ahead. Even in my own experience in helping people in family homelessness - and I am helping a lot of people at the moment through my constituency service - I can think of one family that has been in emergency accommodation for four years. They have been four years homeless but what does this mean? It means they are being accommodated in a two-bedroom apartment provided by the council for the best part of those four years. They have turned down two offers of accommodation. They may have done so for good reasons given the space available and the size of the family, but it is not often as simple as people represent it. People in long-term homelessness may often be in an apartment or a house with their own door and their own key and they may have been offered accommodation, which they did not accept for reasons that may well be good reasons. It is often not the way people think it is.

On the tenant in situscheme, I just received an update from the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, the other day. It looks like there are approximately 2,000 of these now in train, which is very encouraging. These are 2,000 families that might have faced eviction and having to find a new place to live are now being transitioned into social housing because we are buying those units from landlords who are selling up. It takes time to do that work. Anyone who has bought or sold a house knows how long it can take. It is looking like about 2,000 this year, which is not a bad number.

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