Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

During the course of the pandemic, the circumstances shone a light on domestic violence and its prevalence in our community. I am proud that throughout the pandemic, our Government has responded extremely well and promptly provided increased funding to combat this issue.I lament that the conversation needed to happen at all. It is pretty horrific that anyone would be frightened, particularly within an intimate relationship and within the confines of their own home. However, I am glad that the issue of domestic violence is now out in the open, that it can be discussed openly, that it is high up on all of our political agendas and that we have cross-party agreement on it. It has been broken as a taboo subject. The stereotyping of victims and perpetrators has been broken insofar as domestic violence is across all sectors of society. There is no particular profile that signals someone is either a perpetrator or a victim. From that point of view, that is all good and perhaps will create a context and encourage victims to come forward. I would encourage that.

The report, Tracking the Shadow Pandemic - The Story from March to August 2020, published by Safe Ireland, has some stark figures. I will boringly read some of them into the record of the House because we need to pause and take them on board. In a six-month period we had 3,450 women and 589 children contact the domestic violence services for the very first time. On average, we had 1,970 women and 411 children receive support every month. Nearly 34,000 helpline calls were answered, which is an average of 184 calls per day. On average, 191 women and 288 children were living in domestic violence accommodation each month. Quite frighteningly, 1,351 requests for refuge could not be met due to a lack of space. The consequences of that lack of space was quite frightening and horrific for them.

The services have worked tirelessly and ceaselessly to find accommodation within the community. The numbers looking for support increased again month on month. July and August were the busiest months, which is surprising because even though circumstances were a little bit more relieved for all of our living and moving around, the figures still increased. The services have been extraordinary throughout the pandemic in that they adapted to the lockdown overnight. The statistics on that are that 33,624 phone support sessions were held, which is extraordinary. There were 575 video support sessions, 8,300 in-person support sessions, 2,000 helpline emails, 3,500 texts and more than 1,000 online chat messages. That focuses on women and children. However, I am always very mindful of men who are in domestic violence situations. Over the course of the numbers of years I have worked and been around this area, I have been very mindful of the particular vulnerabilities and difficulties of men in domestic violence situations. I am mindful also that we do not have the figures for the second lockdown and how difficult that must have been.

As we approach Christmas every year, we run campaigns asking people to contact services and pointing out there are supports in place for people experiencing domestic violence because while on the one hand we are talking about families getting together for Christmas and everything that goes with that, at the same time we are also mindful of the violence that accompanies Christmas and the horror that is in some homes.

I worked as a counselling psychologist for a number of years before coming the Bar and counselled both victims and perpetrators. I had one incident in a counselling room in a reflective counselling session where, appropriately within the context, I needed to challenge a particular matter and he instantly lost it. I got the tiniest insight into how frightening it must be. In that moment I was locked into a counselling room but that was not my husband, partner, the father of my children or the home I was obliged to live in. I can only imagine and shudder to think of what it must be like for people coming up to Christmas.

It is in that context that I want to raise with the Minister an organisation called Saoirse.Its acting CEO is my party colleague and a great champion of women's rights, Ellen O'Malley Dunlop. Saoirse is an excellent service providing community support and prevention services. It works in a geographic area from west Wicklow all the way through to Dublin 12. It has two short-term refuge accommodation centres for women and children suffering abuse and at the moment they are full to capacity. They have 11 women and 17 children in residence. Saoirse runs a 24-hour helpline and its refuge is staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It has day caller services, does court accompaniment and has therapeutic rooms. It provides the most amazing service. I commend it as a service whose work I am particularly familiar with. I commend it on the hard work it has done.

The Minister lobbied for and secured the increased funding. We just need clarification for all the services under Safe Ireland. How will that funding be allocated? The likes of Saoirse are looking for clarification on how the increased lot of funding that has gone to Tusla will be allocated to all these organisations. I would really appreciate clarification on that.