Lorraine Clifford-Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, to the Chamber. I thank him for coming to discuss this very important matter which is the issue of the lack of women's refuge in north County Dublin.

North County Dublin has the fastest growing population in the country. I am very lucky to live there and represent the area but there is an acute need for a women's refuge and an awful lot of other services in the area. The services that are there are severely under pressure, or in many instances, are not actually available at all. That is the case with the women's refuge.

There is no women's refuge currently in north County Dublin. In the whole of Fingal, there is one women's refuge which is in Blanchardstown. They do great work there. It is heavily oversubscribed and Blanchardstown does not serve north Fingal and the areas I am talking about such as Balbriggan, Skerries, Rush, Lusk, Donabate, and the rural villages of the Naul, Ballyboughal and so on.

Unfortunately, there is an acute need. Tusla published a report in February 2022 which identified Balbriggan as a priority area for the provision of a nine-unit refuge with spaces for nine families. This is yet to be delivered. The mayor of Fingal, Howard Mahony, has been working tirelessly on this issue since his election to the mayoralty last summer. He has been working with the executive in Fingal County Council which is engaging with the stakeholders in the area but they need a commitment on funding and engagement from the Department of Justice to deliver this, and deliver it without further delay for the women and children of north County Dublin.

Unfortunately, there has been an increase in gender-based and domestic violence. I could stand here and list the women who have been murdered in their own homes and subjected to great violence within their own homes in recent years. That is a very real possibility for women and their children who have to flee their homes often with just the clothes on their back. They need to know there is some place local to them where they can go to get the support they need, a roof over their heads and then engage with services and perhaps get a barring or safety order in place or find alternative accommodation.

Currently, there is nothing in north County Dublin. There is no refuge there. There are very good services providing support for women in those situations but we actually need some place where women can live safely and comfortably with their children while other supports are being put in place for the family. It is a traumatic enough situation to have to flee one's home in such circumstances but to leave one's own locality to actually access a safe refuge is doubly traumatic for those women and their children.

Will the Minister of State engage proactively with the mayor, Councillor Howard Mahony, and the executive of Fingal County Council, to deliver a refuge in Balbriggan to serve the surrounding areas? While I am at it, even though Balbriggan was noted as a priority area, the town of Swords also needs a refuge. It is a town of 60,000 people, there is no refuge and there is a great need there. I know my colleague, Councillor Brigid Manton, has championed that since she was elected as well because she knows the acute need that is there in the town of Swords.

I ask that the Minister of State would give a commitment to the House today that his Department will fund the refuge and engage proactively with the mayor of Fingal, Howard Mahony, and the executive in Fingal County Council.