Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and extend every good wish to her and her husband, Paul. I wish for them a safe and healthy birth of their child.

I thank Dr. Evelyn Parsons in Ballinasloe for highlighting this issue to me. She was instrumental in my decision to raise this matter today.

Local authorities are very much involved in sourcing funds for women who are suffering to move out of dangerous situations in the home. Housing officers in County Meath have looked after a number of families and women who were experiencing domestic abuse by arranging funding to enable them to leave their homes and these dangerous situations. Much more work needs to be done on this matter. I am sure the Minister recognises the crossover between the Department of Justice and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. It is great that services are still operating but an awful lot more needs to be done, as the Minister recognises. She has not answered my questions about numbers. I will forward them to her Department and perhaps an official will answer them.