Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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I refer to the Respond! women's refuge in Tallaght, Cuan Álainn. I am not sure if the Minister, Deputy Reilly, is familiar with the site. It is ideally located beside the hospital and Garda station. It is anonymous and is surrounded by a supportive community. The difficulty is that Respond!, which is a voluntary agency, has said it cannot afford to fund the refuge for women and children fleeing domestic violence. Respond! has bankrolled the refuge for the past three and a half years without any financial support from the State.

The refuge caters for nine families and has housed 71 women and 96 children, at a cost of €350,000 per annum. Respond! undertook responsibility for it for three years. Without the service women and children may have to return to potentially dangerous environments. I have heard that agencies, including Tusla, accept that Respond! has identified a definite need to care for women and children in such circumstances.

We know that there is a need for these type of refuges. If it closes, where do the women go? We know that if, for instance, they go to the sexual assault unit in the local hospital the Garda usually refer them to the refuge. It has a large catchment area, but it is not just women from Tallaght or the wider area who use the service. Women from different counties may use it, depending on their safety. Clients may move from different refuges.

It is doing its job and working well. If it closes, it means we are moving backwards. What will replace it if it closes? We need to open more refuges rather than close them. It is a question of money. I raised this issue during the debate on homelessness because it is part of that chain. People leave the family home because of domestic violence or sexual assault. We know what eventually forces women to leave the family home - it is usually the women who have to leave and the abusive partner stays behind. There is a safety aspect. What can the Minister do about this matter?

It is not a huge amount of money. The Minister's colleague, the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, has said the homelessness issue is not a matter of resources and I am glad to hear it. This is part of that chain because when they leave the home they become homeless. The added difficulty is if the gardaí have somebody in the local hospital who has been attacked or abused they normally look for somewhere for the family to go. We know in Dublin that hostel accommodation is full at night time and there is the same difficulty with hotels, so where do they go? Usually the gardaí put them in the station, which is okay for an hour or two or, at a push, overnight. Where do the families go? If we take this huge important piece of infrastructure out of the system what will replace it? I eagerly look forward to the Minister's reply.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Crowe for raising this issue and I welcome the opportunity to clarify the position on the funding of domestic violence services by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. I am aware of this issue as Deputy Pat Rabbitte has raised it with me on a number of occasions.

It is my understanding that the Cuan Álainn centre was established independently of the State and opened in 2012. It is funded by Respond! Housing Association. Tusla, the Child and Family Agency allocates available funding for domestic violence to emergency refuge accommodation services and community-based domestic violence supports. It does not fund Cuan Álainn.

I understand that the Cuan Álainn centre provides second stage accommodation for women and children who have experienced domestic violence and who may already have been in emergency accommodation. The facility does not operate as a front-line emergency domestic violence service, rather it provides step down or transitional accommodation to support transition into a permanent settled home. This can include survivors of domestic violence who are transitioning from emergency services to a new, permanent home.

Departmental officials and Tusla recently met Respond!, at the housing association's request, to discuss the current situation in Cuan Álainn. Respond! advised that it was not in a position to continue funding for the centre. The Department sought additional information from Respond!, including information on the housing association's overall financial situation. The most recent information provided indicated that Respond!, which is made up of two companies, was in good overall financial health.

I hope the matter can be satisfactorily resolved, by allowing sufficient time for all avenues to be explored by the relevant parties. This will need to include discussion with other parties, including the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government as it would appear that these families have pressing housing needs. In this regard, I hope that a meeting with Respond! can be arranged shortly. Tusla will continue to work closely with service providers to ensure that women and children fleeing domestic abuse receive all necessary emergency support. The position in respect of the Cuan Álainn service is being kept under review.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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I listened to what the Minister said about the fact this was established independently and is a transitional service, but my question is whether it is needed. I would argue, and anyone with half a brain would agree, that it certainly is. It is proposed to close the service on 18 December. As the Minister knows, 25 December is Christmas, and the statistics over the years show this is a time of huge pressure on families when a lot of domestic violence breaks out.

The Minister stated he hopes it can be satisfactorily resolved by allowing sufficient time for all avenues to be explored by the relevant parties. This is grand, but it is kicking the can down the road. I was hoping to hear from the Minister today that some mechanism or avenue of funding would keep this vital service open.

I began by saying it is in an ideal location and fits the criteria. Whether it is secondary to emergency housing, it is part of the chain and the next step is housing. It is a vital part of what we need to do as a society and if it is not being done by the State it should be. We should not rely on voluntary housing organisations or religious organisations for these vital services but unfortunately we do, whether in education, special needs or other areas. We push the problem onto someone else.

I do not know whether the Minister can say anything positive to the staff working in the centre or, more importantly, to those who use the centre. The big question is where to put these families and where they go next. There is also the next tranche of families and children who are trying to get into the system. Where will they go if we do not have this vital piece of infrastructure?

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. Obviously our concern is for the families who reside there and need the service. Clearly, there is a need for the State to provide services of this nature and to do so in a planned and organised fashion. It is very welcome that Respond! as a housing agency does this independently without regard to the State, and it is also very commendable that it has funded it, but we need to have a proper organised handover if it is going to cease to fund it. It is not as if the organisation is bereft of funds, that it is overdrawn in the bank or that its capital is expended and it is extended. This is not the case. Its board is quite entitled to make the decision that, having established and funded this, it feels it is not core to its work and that it would like to cease funding it, but there is an onus on it to sit down and speak to us about how it can be handed over in an orderly fashion to allow the Department and the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to determine how best to continue funding to support women and families who have been the subject of domestic violence and abuse and how to transition from the emergency situation, as Respond! has done by providing the service, into a more permanent solution and permanent home, which clearly involves the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government also. It is not my intention that the service should fall between two stools, and I look forward to meeting Respond! to determine putting in place an orderly transition for the funding of this organisation. It is not fair to the families concerned to have them looking at 18 December, the week before Christmas, with the threat of having the roof over their heads removed.