Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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918. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the cost of increasing anti-domestic violence services so they can meet demand and ensure Ireland meets international standards for refuge provision. [12570/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Tusla, the Child and Family Agency has statutory responsibility for the care and protection of victims of domestic, sexual and gender based violence whether in the context of the family or otherwise. A network of 60 organisations provide services to victims of domestic, sexual and gender based violence in Ireland, including 20 services providing emergency refuge accommodation to women and children and 24 community-based domestic violence services.

The Agency has in place a dedicated national budget of €20.6m in 2016 for these services.

Current provision of refuge spaces nationally includes 145 family units, which include 428 spaces for children. Using the methodology for calculating refuge spaces set out by the Council of Europe, the number of available family places nationally is approximately one space per 9,000 adult women, which is within recommended minimum standards for countries where integrated community based responses to domestic violence are in place.

Ireland has recently signed the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combatting Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention). As the agency with statutory responsibility for care and protection of victims of domestic, sexual and gender based violence, Tusla will work collaboratively with service provider organisations, statutory agencies and other stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of objectives of the Convention.

Tusla recognises that there are challenges to be addressed in ensuring that there is an appropriate configuration of spaces available to all women and children who require emergency accommodation and that those with greatest needs for safe accommodation are prioritised appropriately.

The current housing shortage and homeless situation puts particular pressure on emergency refuge services which face challenges in supporting their service users in finding appropriate move-on accommodation when safety issues have been addressed.

A range of integrated supports are required in order to reduce the need for women and families to use emergency accommodation and to ensure that families disrupted by domestic violence can be supported to resume normal and safe family living beyond refuge-type accommodation, within the shortest possible timeframe.

At all times the Agency’s key priority is to ensure that the needs of victims and survivors of domestic, sexual and gender based violence are being met in the best way possible and to address issues of equity in access to and outcomes from services.

Tusla has been provided with additional funding of €200,000 in 2016, which it requested, to begin the process of implementation of the Convention. Tusla expects eight additional units of emergency accommodation to become available in the greater Dublin area in 2016.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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919. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the cost of increasing Womens Aid to fund the extension of the national freephone helpline to become a 24 hour, seven day a week service. [12571/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Tusla, the Child and Family Agency has statutory responsibility for the care and protection of victims of domestic, sexual and gender based violence. The Agency’s key priority is to ensure that the needs of survivors are met in the best way possible. Domestic, sexual and gender-based violence services have been developed as a specialist national service with a single line of accountability and a dedicated national budget of €20.6m in 2016.

Ireland has recently signed the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combatting Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention). Tusla has been provided with additional funding of €200,000 in 2016, which it requested, to begin the process of implementation of the Convention. As the agency with statutory responsibility for care and protection of victims of domestic, sexual and gender based violence, Tusla will work collaboratively with service provider organisations, statutory agencies and other stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of objectives of the Convention.

Under the Istanbul Convention, there is an obligation to have dedicated, free 24 hour national helplines in place for contact around issues of domestic and sexual violence.

Women's Aid receives a significant level of State funding. In 2016, Tusla has allocated funding of €600,000 to Women’s Aid. Tusla is currently engaged with Women’s Aid around service and funding arrangements for 2016, including provision of its helpline services to support the availability of a co-ordinated, accessible national helpline service that can provide both initial contact points and facilitate integrated responses to victims of domestic violence wherever they are in the country.

Tusla recognises the valuable work of Women’s Aid and other organisations providing services in the area of domestic and sexual violence and is committed to the development of these services in line with its statutory remit.

At all times Tusla’s key priority is to ensure that the needs of victims of domestic and sexual violence, are being met in the best way possible, with a focus on addressing inequalities in access to services and assuring availability of consistent and high quality services.