Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I welcome a lot of the detail that the Minister has provided. It is certainly positive that the gaps are being identified and that the subgroup focusing on developing specialist training is being put in place, and that there will be funding announced over the coming weeks under the DSGBV heading. What worries me slightly is the sentence "The rape crisis centres have assured Tusla that their waiting lists are actively managed". Of course they are actively managing their lists but the lists are too long. We need to see that detail now, notwithstanding everything the Minister has said that we will see the detail. We need to see it as soon as possible. We are coming into the winter period now and into what is considered a more normalisation of society. People are no longer willing to put up with excuses of Covid or anything else. We need to see that this funding is in place so the rape crisis centres can step up their response to victims as soon as possible.