Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise what many people see as an important issue. I hope the Minister of State will share that view. We were all absolutely shocked when we heard last Tuesday on the airwaves what women were facing in 2011 with regard to access to refuge. The position has worsened.

There has been a 42% increase in the number of women contacting domestic violence services in the past three years, and the recession has much to do with this because of pressure being put on families because of a loss of jobs, unemployment and little money coming into households. There is also the stress in paying bills. Some 7,235 women received support in 2010, up 5,000 since 2007. Some 3,900 people, including 2,355 children, lived in refuges in 2010. However, the scandalous aspect of this is that on 3,236 occasions women could not be accommodated due to lack of space. Everybody thought this problem was in the past and that the issue of women and children accessing refuge and protection had been dealt with.

Currently, there are 141 refuge places, a third of the minimum standard recommended by the Council of Europe. This is scandalous. According to the Council of Europe recommendation, the north west should have 24 family unit places but it only has two. In the east region, which covers Dublin, it is recommended that there be 150 family unit places, but there are only 39. Research shows, and the Minister will be aware of this from her own experience, that the most dangerous time for these women is when they attempt to leave an abusive and violent relationship. Being turned away from a refuge due to lack of space places these women and their children in an extremely dangerous situation. A total of 38% of the women who sought refuge said they had nowhere else to go.

It is the most vulnerable people who feel the cost of the banker and developer bailout. Since 2008, SAFE Ireland has reported cuts in funding ranging from 5% to 30% in the north-east region. These are not feasibility cuts but cuts to the service. In the Leinster area, services which provide 80% of services nationally were contacted by the HSE and were given two weeks notice of a 10% cut. There must be an urgent response by the Minister. Every day thousands of cases are being reported. At a minimum the refuge in Kildare that is ready to get up and running should be opened as a priority. Violent assaults, rape and abuse of children, including of the unborn through violent attacks on pregnant women, as has been reported by SAFE Ireland, are taking place in families and behind closed doors. There must be an urgent response.

The Government must commit to signing the Council of Europe convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence without delay. Ireland is one of a small number of countries that have not signed the convention, which was adopted by the Council of Europe on 11 May 2011. The second step the Government must take is signing that convention to show the women, children and everybody in this country that it means business and will turn around the situation that has existed for the past three years.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this topical issue as it provides me with an opportunity to clarify the current situation.

Domestic violence is a serious health and human rights issue. In March 2010, the Government launched a four year strategy to provide a framework for sustainable intervention to prevent and effectively respond to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. Cosc is the national office for the prevention of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and was established in 2007 under the aegis of the Department of Justice and Equality. Cosc's key task is to ensure the delivery of a well co-ordinated Government response to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.

The HSE also launched its policy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence in 2010. The principal actions of this policy are in line with the national policy. The health care system is usually the first route through which domestic violence victims seek support. HSE staff are trained to recognise, respond and refer appropriately to cases of domestic violence. The HSE also manages the significant impact of domestic violence on the health and well-being of victims through primary care and hospital services. HSE staff and allied health professionals provide a range of services to people who experience domestic violence.

Nationally the HSE also funds 47 front-line domestic violence service providers. Twenty of these provide refuge accommodation and this number has risen from 15 since 2000. The services provide a wide range of supports such as advocacy and counselling and were funded to the amount of €I4 million in 2010. Every HSE region in Ireland has at least one refuge available providing crisis emergency accommodation. All but one, located in the western region, are accessible on a 24 hour basis. There are ten counties in which refuge facilities are not located, but the support service providers in these locations may refer clients to refuge services in neighbouring counties.

There are currently 138 emergency accommodation units funded by the HSE nationally. These units may offer accommodation to a single client or a client with accompanying children and are intended to provide emergency or transitional crisis accommodation. Teach Tearmainn, a domestic violence service provider in Kildare, is on the point of completing a major new capital development which includes four self contained apartments to be used as crisis accommodation for victims of domestic violence. Teach Tearmainn is currently funded by the Health Service Executive to provide an information and advice service to women who experience domestic violence in Kildare. I recently met the committee that has been established to run Teach Tearmainn and with the two local Deputies, Deputy Martin Heydon and Deputy Jack Wall.

The capitalaspects of the new development were fully funded through the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. Teach Tearmainn has applied to the HSE for revenuefunding to operate the new units. While the HSE has indicated its broad support for the new project, there was no allocation for this budgeted in 2011 and all available funding for 2011 has already been allocated. However, the HSE has undertaken to investigate potential avenues of funding for 2012 and this process is currently under way. We should have news about it soon.

Last Wednesday, the National Statistics on Domestic Violence 2010 were published by SAFE Ireland, the national representative body for 39 women's front-line domestic violence services. These statistics show a substantial increase in demand for services in 2010 compared to 2009. It is within the context of this increased demand for domestic violence services that the HSE is currently engaged in a national and regional review of domestic violence service provision. The aim of this review is to ensure that funding is allocated according to need and areas of high demand are appropriately resourced. I assure the Deputy that the Government is fully committed to addressing the problem of domestic violence.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I welcome the fact that there is an investigation of how to access money to open Teach Tearmainn in Kildare. It appears from the Minister's comments that the money will be accessed. It is important to get that facility up and running.

However, I am still a little concerned about some of the points made. All the reports show there has been an increase in domestic violence and in violence against women in the home. There is concern in the Cosc office and in SAFE Ireland that progress is slow and that issues are not being dealt with quickly enough. SAFE Ireland recommends that the needs and experience of victims be centre stage in any action being implemented. It does not believe that is being taken on board and I ask the Minister to make a point of doing that.

Although the Minister says the Government is fully committed on this issue, it must sign up to the Council of Europe convention on preventing and combating domestic violence. That will clearly indicate that the Government fully supports the convention. A total of 17 countries have already signed up to it and Ireland is in a small group of countries that have not signed it. I do not know why. I call on the Government to state that it will sign the convention within a short period. That will show it fully supports the convention.

It is scandalous that although the Council of Europe recommends that the north west of the country should have 24 family units, it only has two. It recommends that the west have 41 but it only has 11; it recommends 36 in the mid-west but there are only 20; it recommends 39 in the north east but there are only 22. This issue must be addressed and it is important that we address it soon. We cannot continue to listen to women on radio stations speaking in absolute despair and sorrow.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I do not disagree with anything the Deputy says. We are agreed that domestic violence is an absolute scandal. However, we must also address the elephant in the room. If there are that many women running with their children in fear of their lives to find refuge in places outside their homes, what are we doing about the perpetrator? If the Deputy and I were attacked tonight on our way home, were beaten and terrified for hours and driven out of our homes, and if we knew the perpetrator, he would be charged.