Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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175. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her attention has been drawn to the ongoing attempts by Lifeline Inishowen Domestic Violence Support Service to attain modest funding support so that it can can continue to operate and serve a population of 40,000 in the peninsula; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6113/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Responsibility for Domestic, Sexual and Gender based Violence Services previously funded by the HSE became the responsibility of the new Child and Family Agency upon its establishment on 1 January, 2014. Overall policy responsibility for domestic, sexual and gender based violence rests with my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality supported by Cosc (the National Office for the Prevention of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence) which was established as an executive office of the Department of Justice and Equality in 2007.

A Programme Manager who was appointed within the Child and Family Agency this week will review all areas of Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based services and produce a national strategy for service delivery by end of 2014. Services in the Donegal area will be considered in this review. Services in Donegal for victims of domestic violence are currently being provided by the Donegal Domestic Violence Services and they remain the sole recipient of support for funding to provide a service in Donegal. As part of their service arrangement, this service currently operates four outreach clinics in Carndonagh, Buncrana, Moville and Clonmany to ensure that people in Donegal who are unable to visit the service in Letterkenny can meet with trained workers in a confidential environment in their own location.