Alison Comyn (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. I thank him for his comprehensive response and his own personal comments. I note that the mechanism is not currently under consideration from a policy perspective but let us begin the conversation to make that a possibility. I would also argue that these houses would possibly be more than ample in terms of security for these women and children.

We are doing really well providing refuges; it is not the refuges, it is the post-refuge care that we need. We need a multi-pronged approach. It will take the Departments of housing and justice, and possibly other Departments, to come together and start planning for this eventuality because while we are building social housing as fast as we can, it is not fast enough for some of these women who need to move on and rebuild their lives, and then other women can move into the refuges. I appreciate the Minister of State's comments on that, but we need to focus more right across the Departments on how we can support these women. I would like to see more focus from the Departments of justice and housing on the third phase of the rehabilitation for these women and children.