Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)

There are institutional barriers that affect women leaving domestic violence that we can and should change. One of those is the fact that women on the council waiting list in one county who move back to their home county due to domestic violence have to reopen a new application in the new county. Therefore, they are not eligible for emergency accommodation, cannot get homeless accommodation, are not eligible for social housing support and have to start again from the beginning in terms of years on the list. I have raised this at all levels but am not getting any outcome for the women, so I ask the Taoiseach to take a look at this. I raised it previously with the Minister for housing. Really, I have raised it at all levels. There should be a simple solution that we could look at and I ask the Taoiseach to take a look at that.

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