Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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431. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if a service (details supplied) in County Mayo will be resourced to respond to increased demand or to maintain existing service levels; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58912/21]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The response to Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence (DSGBV) is a cross Departmental and multi-agency issue. Overall policy is coordinated by the Department of Justice. Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has statutory responsibility for the care and protection of victims of DSGBV under the Child and Family Agency Act 2013. Capital funding for approved housing bodies, including services that provide refuge accommodation for victims of DSGBV, is provided by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

Tusla informs me that it is actively engaged with Mayo Women's Support & Advocacy Service about their service and funding arrangements for 2022. The service has been invited to submit further information about any particular unmet need or service pressures they identify.

Tusla is aware that recruitment and retention of staff is an additional pressure faced by many services working in the health and social care area which is particularly challenging for this service in the context of the level of demand for services.

Tusla's core funding to Mayo Women's Support Services in 2021 is €396,799, an increase of €10,000 from their 2020 core funding. Due to additional pressures on the service in 2021 due to Covid-19, an additional €20,299 was secured to date for additional relief staff, additional therapeutic services for children and other Covid-19 related expenses.

Tusla has recently provided information about mechanisms for domestic, sexual & gender-based violence (DSGBV) organisations to access resources on a short-term basis in order to assure their capacity to respond in the context of the worsening Covid-19 situation.

My Department is providing Tusla with core funding of €30 million this year to fund DSGBV services. This includes a €2.7 million increase in core services, bringing core service provision to €28 million, with an additional €2 million of one-off contingency funding being made available to help services cope with the ongoing effects of COVID-19. In Budget 2022, Tusla has been allocated an additional €41 million over the 2021 allocation. I have directed Tusla to use part of these additional resources to maintain supports for DSGBV services and address the recommendations arising from Tusla’s Accommodation Review of refuge provision.