Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, I agree with the Deputy that this was not a social or a national priority in all aspects of life, including in politics, until those like the Minister, Deputy McEntee, prioritised the issue. We have now seen this become an absolute priority. We have taken very significant assignments of responsibility and decisions within Government to say the Minister, Deputy McEntee, now co-ordinates across all of Government in relation to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence because every Department has a role to play. I assure Deputy McDonald, as I know the sector would, that the level of engagement we have with the sector and with the service providers - the people the Deputy rightly identifies as those who are saving lives and doing incredible work - is intense, frequent and regular, as it should be. The level of funding to service providers has risen from about €20 million a year to about €59 million a year and I am committing on the floor of the Dáil that it will rise again.

With regard to refuge spaces, I will send a breakdown note to the Deputy on how we intend to address the issues. There is a plan to double the number of refuge places to 280. We have tasked Cuan specifically with publishing a quarterly tracking report in relation to how we are going to make progress on that for all to see.

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