Dee Ryan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for giving us his time today to discuss this important issue. First, as a Limerick person I acknowledge and thank her for the support she has given the Limerick community access support team. It is a pilot initiative that she and the then Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Deputy Browne, came to Limerick to launch last October. It went live in January and is led by Superintendent Andrew Lacey in Henry Street Garda Station. It places three gardaí into a car with mental health nurses to provide a response that is not just a police-led response to an emergency call. Listening to my colleagues here today and discussing how a timely intervention is so important when it comes to issues of mental health, we are very excited in Limerick about the results we have seen so far in this programme. It could be a game-changer for us across the country. I thank the Minister of State for her personal support on that and look forward to hearing the results in due course. I wish to bring the attention of the Minister of State to another fabulous organisation in Limerick, ADAPT Domestic Support Services. AdaptHouse, as we know it locally, is the largest domestic support refuge in the country. Regrettably, I have to tell the Minister of State that the highest incidence of domestic abuse reported in the country is in Limerick. The organisation was founded more than 50 years ago to provide all sorts of supports to women who find themselves in this situation as well as the children they may be supporting. The service started as a refuge where people could go when leaving an abusive relationship. During my recent visit to AdaptHouse, I spoke to Denise Dunne, the director of services, and Leonie Kearns, the chairperson. They highlighted the growing demand for therapeutic talk services, including group work and one-to-one therapy work.

The organisation is providing a huge amount of support over the phone. Last year, it supported 1,200 women and 215 children in Limerick and answered in excess of 2,400 calls. Its challenge is that it needs to expand its footprint to provide more supports. I wanted to raise this with the Minister of State because I know we are taking a whole-of-government approach. The service is largely funded through the Department of Justice, the HSE and the local authority. I ask for the support of the Minister of State on the request for funding when it comes to Government.