Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will start by acknowledging the work of the Minister and the funding she has committed in respect of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, particularly the €6.3 million that was allocated in March, which will have a very significant impact for organisations such as YANA, an organisation I have worked with that covers north and east Cork. The effect of that funding will be to build up capacity in organisations such as YANA. In our roles as TDs and public representatives, we are seeing a lack of capacity and a deficit in organisations' ability to meet the needs of people who present to them. That funding is absolutely vital in building up that capacity and I acknowledge the Minister's role in assisting organisations of that nature. It is vitally important.

I will briefly speak to the issue of access to court services. I work with organisations like YANA, You Are Not Alone, and they tell me that impediments exist for people. Let us call a spade a spade; it is women in the main. Women seeking access to the courts for emergency protection orders find they are impeded in accessing services. That is based on geography. For instance, if you live in Youghal in east Cork, you have to present to the courthouse in Washington Street in Cork city. That is quite a distance to travel for any person when public transport links are not what they should be. Similarly, from next week onwards, people living in or near Kanturk who want to access a protection order or an emergency domestic order, people who would traditionally have accessed court services in Mallow, will have to travel to Fermoy. That is a distance of 50 km. Will the Minister use her influence to ensure that no impediments or barriers are put in the way of people seeking to access court orders?

That would be a good day’s work. We want to ensure that people can access courts nearest to where they live. We do want a delaying effect to take place by dint of the fact that the Courts Service, say, for instance, where they are carrying out a refurbishment, they do not seek the push the person farther away from the service. It is vitally important they have the service.

Finally, I wish to deal with the capital assistance programme, which is a very good programme. As I said, I am doing some work with YANA where we have the potential to partner with a construction company. That construction company wishes to provide, on a not-for-profit basis, adequate resources in relation to the provision of a refuge in the north Cork area. I ask that that flexibility be built into the CAS programme whereby if somebody presents with a project and does not necessarily adhere to the criteria, some flexibility is built into the system so that there is an open-minded engagement with a set of partners that come before the CAS services such that they are not kicked out of the system if they do not fulfil 100% of the criteria. I am involved with one project where we are at the early stages of engagement and we just want some flexibility built into the system. Ultimately, it is about ensuring that where people need access to refuges and where people come in who are willing to build and provide, that flexibility is built into the system in order that the service is available for people as near as possible to where they live.

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