Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this very important matter. I am aware that this has received significant media attention recently, and that the statistics are very sobering. There has been a 100% increase in calls to helplines, a 63% increase in appointments and a 30% increase in the number of survivors attending centres. The Senator has outlined, beyond the statistics, the real-life impact of those waits on victims.

The response to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, DSGBV, is across government and is a multiagency issue, and policy is co-ordinated by the Department of Justice. I will outline what my Department is doing and then speak a little on what the Department of Justice is doing also.

Tusla has statutory responsibility under the Child and Family Agency Act for the care and protection of victims of DSGBV. Tusla funding is available for DSGBV services such as refuges, other domestic violence services and the rape crisis centres. This is €30 million for 2021, which includes €28 million of core spending and €2 million on Covid spending. In the budget yesterday I announced an additional €40 million for Tusla, which is very significant funding. There will be additional funding for DSGBV services within that. The breakdown of Tusla's funding for next year will not come out for a number of weeks. This is how it always happens. We do not tell Tusla exactly how to allocate its departmental allocation. That will be decided in the next weeks.

Tusla has advised that funding specific to sexual violence and rape crisis services has increased by 32% since 2016. It supports the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre to operate the national 24-7 free phone sexual violence helpline which is a round-the-clock accessible point of contact for anyone seeking support. Tusla provided an additional €275,000 to the two national 24-7 DSGBV helplines. This was an additional 50% on their annual core funding. That extra money came in 2021 to add capacity in the context of the Covid crisis.

The rape crisis centres have assured Tusla that their waiting lists are actively managed. People who are in acute crisis are prioritised. The contact remains open for anyone on a waiting list, and especially if there are concerns around safety. Tusla also supports general counselling in local communities via the family resource centres. There is an absolute acknowledgement that there is great demand for mental health professionals, and there are challenges in recruiting and retaining staff. Costs for support, supervision and professional development are included when the funding for sexual violence and rape crisis services is received from Tusla.

On the actions being taken by the Department of Justice, it has created an implementation plan entitled Supporting a Victim's Journey, for the review of protections for vulnerable witnesses in the investigation and prosecution of sexual offences. The Senator has outlined the struggles that survivors have had following a prosecution. A subgroup on the work of this plan commissioned an expert consultant to analyse and categorise the supports provided with grant funding made by the Department of Justice in 2021 under the victims of crime grant scheme. The consultant identified geographical areas and categories of victims, which represent gaps or unmet need in the current provision of these supports services within the criminal justice system. The Department of Justice is now in the process of contacting identified NGOs to arrange to distribute funding to provide additional services and extend geographical scope.

Another subgroup is focused on developing specialist training for legal professionals, counsellors and psychotherapists working in front-line services. Building on the mapping exercise, the subgroup will design a framework for the provision of a range of training and awareness-raising measures for those engaged with victims of sexual crime and vulnerable witnesses. Tusla is contributing to those actions also.

I do not know exactly the full package announced by the Department of Justice from yesterday, I believe it is holding a more detailed press conference today. I am aware the Department is putting in place a specific funding package for the victim's journey in implementing the Department's response to that.