Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House to discuss this important issue. We have had a number of statements on the issue. I will try not to repeat what my colleagues have said and focus on an area that has not been addressed adequately for a number of years, which is the issue of housing and accommodation for victims of domestic violence. Refuge spaces are wholly inadequate, but a few small changes in local authority systems could make an enormous difference. A woman who owns a house along with her husband or partner and is a victim of domestic violence is considered to be adequately housed because she has a share in that house.Getting access to a local authority housing list is very difficult in that situation. Another issue is that people may not want to live in the same administrative area as their abuser and partner. It is very difficult to switch between local authority lists. Somebody in Dublin might want to move back to his or her family in Sligo. Switching between those lists is very difficult. If one has been on a local authority housing list for seven, ten or 12 years, one will lose one's place if one switches lists. The issues keeping people in those situations are financial and emotional. That sense of safety and home is also involved. One might feel that one is safer if one has a roof over one's head, even if one is not. That has been brought into focus by this issue.

I also ask the Minister to address the issue of going after damages. One of my childhood friends was a victim of very serious domestic violence at the hands of a man with whom she had previously been in a relationship. I am speaking about her here as she has been very vocal publicly about the matter. She came home one Christmas and he was waiting for her. He had jumped in a taxi. He broke her face in two places. She thought she was not going to survive the assault. This woman's name is Jessica Bowes. One of the things she has done with her barrister is to bring this man through the courts to try to get damages. Despite the fact that he owns two houses, she does not have access to that money. She has three children, two of which she had with that man, but the courts system has failed her on both a criminal and civil level.

Will the Minister, in conjunction with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, give consideration to a domestic violence housing strategy? Senator Fitzpatrick and I were on Dublin City Council when Councillor Noeleen Reilly brought together a working group on that issue. I had initially tried to do so in 2009 but we hit too many barriers in our attempts to co-ordinate local authorities across the country. This is a real long-term need for people who are fleeing such situations. We ask that people be in immediate crisis rather than addressing their long-term needs, including housing needs, thereby keeping them in homes that are not safe.