Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I would like to acknowledge that the Minister is currently progressing legislative proposals on the guardianship rights of those who have murdered their spouse as well as the disclosure of counselling notes. It is important that we get the proposals right and it is welcome that they are progressing through the Oireachtas.

I am delighted to hear that the Minister is visiting refuges, but an area that remains of particular concern to me, because it impacts my constituency of Cavan-Monaghan, is that of refuge spaces in the constituency. Cavan and Monaghan continue to be among the nine counties which lack a domestic violence refuge. While I welcome the commitment of the Government to establishing a refuge in Cavan or Monaghan, this must be done immediately.

I have heard it is looking for somewhere to progress this to and it still has not happened, so I ask the Minister to help with this. Is it his ambition to progress this and increase spaces? It would show real leadership. Will he pledge to provide adequate spaces in every county? We need a greater level of services across the board. We need legislative proposals to be progressed and enacted. The Minister will agree with this, but surely he will accept the bare minimum we owe women and children who have to flee their homes is a refuge, regardless of where they live. Is it the Minister's ambition? He will determine whether this will happen or not. Unfortunately the progress since the Government announced the target of doubling the number of spaces to 280 has been lacking. There were 12 new units in 2023 and fewer than 50 additional units are set to be delivered this year. This is all in the context of the target falling far off the number of spaces mandated by the convention on domestic violence. People in Cavan and Monaghan are entitled to a refuge, as is anyone else in this State, including those in the other seven counties that also continue to lack these services. I appeal to the Minister to recognise that. I urge him to give a commitment to our communities that he will right the wrongs of past governments and deliver adequate refuge for the women and children of counties Cavan and Monaghan.

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