Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Cairns for her kind words for the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and I congratulate her on her own good news. I know everyone in this House is genuinely delighted for her and for Barry and we wish them all the very best. It is nice to have good news in this place too.

I thank her for raising the very important issue relating to the Women’s Aid report and the work relating to the zero-tolerance strategy. She asked specifically about new measures. The honest answer to that, in addition to the list I can provide her on how we will get to the significant increase in places that has been promised under the strategy and the work that is under way in Wexford, Dundalk and Navan and the 17 new safe homes last year and the 13 more this year, the new approach is that there is now a statutory agency, Cuan, and it has been asked to produce a monitoring plan every quarter to show the delivery of those projects. It has also been asked to look at new ways to accelerate the delivery because I accept this is urgent and so too does the Minister, Deputy McEntee. I hope that having our new statutory agency with a co-ordinating role will help.

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