Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for accepting this very important matter. A very serious issue has arisen where all of the core funding of the Rape Crisis Network Ireland will be terminated on 31 March 2014. The current responsibility for the funding of €250,000 for the Rape Crisis Network Ireland resides with the new Child and Family Agency. This is a catastrophic situation for victims of sexual violence in Ireland and is likely to result in both the closure of the Rape Crisis Network Ireland and the loss of the critical national programmes currently co-ordinated by it.

Various Government Departments and agencies share responsibility for the protection of Irish citizens from crimes of sexual violence and provide professional responses to those who have been victims of such crimes. Each statutory agency has a partial responsibility, partial knowledge and a partial strategy. The Child and Family Agency has, like all other statutory locations, a partial and reductive knowledge of the complexity of crimes of sexual violence, the needs of victims and the needs of other statutory locations. All core funding is to be cut as a result of this partial and reductive approach. The Child and Family Agency has stated it will, with greatly reduced funds, tender for a service that it requires in terms of its responsibilities. This silo thinking will break up the cross-agency benefits of the Rape Crisis Network Ireland and do huge damage.

There are almost 2,000 rapes and sexual assaults each year in this country and the survivors rely on the support and expertise provided by the Rape Crisis Network Ireland, which is now being undermined by the Child and Family Agency. In the rush for the Child and Family Agency to reduce costs, this decision will do untold damage to the future of the network and impact on the thousands of people who depend on the services it provides. This will happen because the collective knowledge and information gathering of the network will be lost. I urge the Minister to think of the bigger picture and protect the Rape Crisis Network Ireland, maintain its funding and allow it to continue to provide this vital service.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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Sexual violence remains one of the most under-reported and under-recorded violent crimes in this country. It is notoriously difficult to evaluate the levels of the sexual crime and I, the Rape Crisis Network Ireland and other women's organisations would suggest the available figures only represent the tip of the iceberg. Ireland is still out of step with international standards and badly under-funded when it comes to treating sexual assault victims.

Rape crisis centres around the country have seen their Government funding cut by up to 31% since 2009. Despite a huge increase in the need for the organisation's services, some centres are starting 2014 with budget deficits of over €100,000 due to funding cuts last year. This year-on-year reduction in core funding has resulted in the curtailing of services, including education programmes, dedicated clinics for asylum seekers and, significantly, helpline hours and counselling services. In other words, thousands of calls are already being missed every year because of this.

There has been an increase of 23% in first-time callers to the national 24-hour helpline operated by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre since 2010. International research suggests that sexual violence, and violence against women in particular, increases in times of economic recession, and our own statistics support this theory. In 2012, according to figures I received today, 54% of all calls to the national helpline related to adult sexual violence. Some 41% of sexual abuse incidents disclosed by 322 new clients in 2012 alone included other forms of violence, such as physical and psychological abuse, intimidation and threats to kill.

In conclusion, it is a false economy to cut funding to services. Both the World Health Organisation and the World Bank have produced findings on research commissioned on the cost of violence against women and girls in societies. In the UK alone, the economic cost is estimated to be €26 billion annually.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputies Pringle and Halligan for raising this important topic and I welcome the opportunity to clarify the situation. I absolutely share their concern about this issue in regard to sexual violence and the need to have a cohesive and comprehensive response. Yesterday I had the opportunity to work with the Rape Crisis Network Ireland when I launched two more of its very valuable reports into sexual violence in this country and the various issues that arise in regard to it. For all of those reasons, I welcome the opportunity to clarify the Government's approach to strengthening the provision of domestic and sexual violence services.

While overall responsibility for policy in this area rests with the Minister for Justice and Equality, the new Child and Family Agency, which is under my remit, has specific responsibility for funding rape crisis centres previously funded by the HSE, and it is in that context that I am responding to the House.

The decision taken by the Government to set up the new agency was informed by the work of the task force which I established in September 2011 and which reported in July 2012. The task force considered that domestic and sexual violence services should form an integral part of the remit of the new agency due to the significant impact domestic violence has on children's welfare, as the Deputies have outlined. The recommendation of the task force relating to domestic and sexual violence services was accepted by Government and discussed in this House when we put the legislation for the establishment of the agency through the House some weeks ago. The functions of the agency include responsibility for the care and protection of victims of domestic, sexual or gender-based violence, whether in the context of the family or otherwise.

This area is now, for the first time, under national direction. I want to advise the House that, as part of the establishment of the new Child and Family Agency, a dedicated position of programme manager for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is being created, so we now have national co-ordination for the first time. The new national programme manager, who is herself very skilled and experienced in the areas to which the Deputies referred, will take up her position on 3 February next.

Funding has also been separated out in order to get absolute clarity given that, previously, it was part of a very broad HSE budget. The budget that has been identified is some €17.4 million for the provision of domestic and sexual violence services.

It includes the funding of 60 services throughout the country, comprising €10 million for 20 crisis refuges, more than €4 million for 16 rape crisis centres and almost €3.5 million for 24 support services. Since the establishment of the agency on 1 January 2014, there has been a single line of accountability for all resources made available to services responding to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. Previously, there were a range of local funders in children's services, primary care and social inclusion. I further assure the House and have checked again this morning that funding is ring-fenced to provide front-line services in this area.

With respect to support services, I am advised that the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland, RCNI, had a two year contract with the HSE which was due to finish on 31 December 2013. I have discussed this matter with Gordon Jeyes who has been in detailed discussions with the RCNI right through to the end of December when it was fully briefed on the position in place and what was happening. The contract was extended to 31 March 2014 but due to the level of the support services involved and the value of the contract, a tendering process for reappointment of a service is required under EU regulations. We have had many discussions in this House in recent days and weeks about governance, regulations, voluntary bodies and following proper procedures. That is the situation in respect of that particular funding.

The national programme manager with special responsibility for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence will work with the head of procurement in the agency to develop a tender process. It is open to all qualified providers, including the RCNI, which has an excellent track record, to tender for this new contract. As the provision of these supports will involve a tendering process, I hope the House appreciates that I cannot go into too much further detail in advance of the contracts being placed.

Due to the complex nature of the issues involved in domestic and sexually based violence and the need for a co-ordinated and effective response to these issues, the national office for the prevention of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, Cosc, was established as an executive office in the Department of Justice and Equality in 2007. Cosc formulated a comprehensive cross-Government strategy which combines the best efforts of a very broad range of organisations in this area. This strategy runs to 2014. Cosc is currently in the process of preparing a new cross-sector strategy. This will be important as well.

I believe we have the right structures in place, as I have outlined, to drive forward the much-needed reform of children and family services. We will continue to deliver. I accept the point both Deputies are making about the priority in this area and the importance of the work. We want to deliver a comprehensive and integrated service to vulnerable children and their families, and this will require the support of various Departments and agencies and the support of society in general. We need a broad community response to the issues outlined by the Deputies. There is a new EU directive on working with victims of domestic violence that highlights the need for a very broad-based response in communities. I look forward to discussing that in the House as well.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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I thank the Minister for her response. It raises a number of questions she might address. I take her point that the provision of new services must go out to tender under EU rules. However, this should not be viewed as an economic transaction. It should be viewed as a facility that is important for victims throughout the country. I do not believe the EU tendering rules would state that it must be viewed as a commercial tender. This State could say that this is a vital service for the protection of victims and exceptions could be made to the tendering rules relating to that.

Will it be tendered on the basis that the lowest tender will be accepted? Will the tender reflect the quality of information, the level of support and the amount of work that is required? The Minister said the funding will be ring-fenced. Will it be like the disability funding in the Department of Health where we heard that €35 million was being ring-fenced every year, yet we see that an amount way below that has been spent? Is this the situation that will develop in respect of this? Is the €250,000 allocated for the RCNI ring-fenced for the new contract as well?

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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I concur with everything said by my comrade, Deputy Pringle. The rape of a women violates her human rights and dignity. It always has catastrophic effects on the quality of life of the woman who has been violently assaulted, because the violence is not only sexual but can sometimes be extreme and inflict personal and physical damage to the woman. I met some rape victims in the Dáil and spoke to them. It was very difficult for me to listen to what they had to say. I can only say this from my heart in representing women. Recovery for a woman who has been violently assaulted and sexually abused can be complex and difficult. I recognise that it takes a lot of counselling, time, effort and money but, as I said in my opening remarks, a woman's life can be irreparably damaged. Her family and children can be affected, her ability to indulge in sex with her partner or husband can irretrievably damaged and her capacity to think positively can be destroyed. We must be careful when we are talking about cutting funding to that individual woman if she requires complex counselling that costs money and a lot of time and effort. I know the Minister would agree with me on this and I would never argue with her about it. I am sure the Minister has met women, as have I. Money should not be a factor in respect of repairing or at least helping to repair a woman's life.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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It is critical that victims of sexual violence have access to services. I have stated my commitment and that of the Government to ring-fence the front-line services that reach out to women and men in that situation. It is very important in this discussion that we separate the importance of support for victims of crimes, including crimes of a sexual nature, and support for services which work with those victims and provide such a comprehensive service throughout the country from the tendering process for a particular piece of work where there are contractual obligations and EU regulations that must be followed if substantial funding is being made to any one provider. I am bit surprised by what Deputy Pringle said about changing the rules in respect of the tendering process because these rules are laid down in law and must be followed, but I take the spirit in which he raised it, which is to accept that invaluable work is being done by the RCNI in terms of the various support structures it offers to rape crisis centres.

I take the point the Deputy is making about the importance of the work but I have outlined very clearly that the intention is to ring-fence front-line services. I have outlined the amounts of money that are going to those services and the very clear position in respect of the tendering process for specific work. I would not want that to be seen as undermining in any way the work that has been done by the RCNI with victims and other organisations.