Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 41:

In page 72, after line 31, to insert the following:
“Amendment of Domestic Violence Act 1996
59. The Domestic Violence Act 1996 is amended by inserting the following section after section 8:
“8A. An applicant shall not, by virtue of the applicant’s legal or beneficial interest in the residence in which the applicant resides or previously resided with the respondent, be prohibited from consideration for social housing by a local authority.”.”.

These are very specific amendments and deserve great merit. There exists a gap in the legislation, where a victim of domestic violence who is living with the abuser in the family home or another property as a joint owner of the property, is currently prohibited from being considered by the local authority for social housing due to the part ownership in the family home or property in which he or she resides or resided with the perpetrator.
The objective of amendment No. 41 is to ensure that a victim who applies for a barring or protection order shall not, by virtue of his or her part ownership in the residence in which the applicant resides or previously resided with the respondent, be prohibited from consideration for social housing by a local authority. The amendment does not state that a victim must automatically get a social house but it does state that a victim shall not be discriminated against based on his or her part ownership of the property where the domestic violence occurred. In many cases this discrimination also includes children. I know the programme for Government contained a commitment to introduce consolidated reforms of domestic violence legislation to address all aspects of domestic violence and did contain a commitment to protect victims. This amendment is intended to close one major gap in the legislation and provide support for victims of domestic violence.
Amendment No. 42 is based on the recommendation of Women's Aid that an integrated and co-ordinated response to women out of home because of violence is needed and has been shown to work in other jurisdictions. A report by Women's Aid from 2006 states that a co-ordinated approach involving local authorities, other statutory agencies and the voluntary sector has been demonstrated as the most successful strategy in the United Kingdom. A framework has already been proposed and much work has been done already, but it is important that the Minister takes the initiative and issues this framework as a directive to local authorities.