Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We all recognise that domestic violence is a scourge on society. It is something that affects many families throughout this country. When it happens then we must have in place structures to deal with it and to allow people who are the victims of domestic violence to seek refuge earlier.That is why I welcome the moves this morning by the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, to re-establish that certain payments will not be used against people who are the victims of domestic violence to deny them the opportunity to get housing elsewhere outside that abusive environment.

In welcoming that, I should say I come from Dún Laoghaire which is probably the most populous area in the country that does not have a domestic violence refuge. When I was on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council from 2009, I called many times for a refuge. I found an article this morning by Fiona Gartland in The Irish Times from 2012 which referred to a study that identified what she referred to as a major gap in the provision of domestic violence refuges and domestic violence services in the Dún Laoghaire area. That was nearly ten years ago. This week Ellen Coyne essentially wrote the same story in the Irish Independent, that it has not changed in ten years. This was on foot of another study done by the Irish Independent, again in conjunction with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, on the fact there is no refuge in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown area, an area of approximately 250,000 people. There are nine counties throughout Ireland that do not have refugees but Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown is by some distance the most populous of them.

This was discussed by the justice committee last week. There is a major problem here. I raised this previously with the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman. There was to be a study earlier in the year to examine where the gaps in provision were and I have yet to see the outcome, but I do not know what other information is required to identify that there is definitely a gap in Dún Laoghaire, a large suburban area in Dublin, where Dublin generally has a smaller proportion of refuges than the rest of the country. There is a gap there. The problem also has a knock-on effect for surrounding areas, because when an individual or family in Dún Laoghaire needs to be given refuge, they are put into another area which means someone in that area must go elsewhere. It is grossly unfair on people for whom the wider Dún Laoghaire area is their home that they must go elsewhere to seek refuge. They should be entitled to one on their doorstep the same as anyone in Cork, Galway, Letterkenny or wherever. There is a gap which has been identified for more than ten years. It needs to be addressed urgently. I ask the Deputy Leader that we would have a debate in the House as soon as possible and to bring to the attention of the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, this massive lacuna that needs urgently to be plugged.