Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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1133. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the way that the State is meeting its commitments under the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention including the provision of refuge spaces and support services for all of 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2579/22]

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 with overall policy 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. My Department provided Tusla with core funding of €30 million to fund DSGBV services throughout 2021. This included a €2.7 million increase in core services from 2020, 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. This allows Tusla to fund 60 specialist services around the country, including 44 services providing support to victims of domestic violence, 21 of whom provide safe accommodation in refuges. I have allocated further resources to Tusla under Budget 2022 and directed Tusla to use them to maintain supports for DSGBV services and address the recommendations arising from Tusla’s Accommodation Review of refuge provision.

On the provision of refuge spaces, the Istanbul Convention sets out signatory obligations but does not set out a single standard or recommended number of refuge spaces. Article 23 specifically refers to shelters, which should be accessible and “in sufficient numbers” to provide a place of refuge to victims.

Tusla’s ‘Review of the Provision of Accommodation for Victims of Domestic Violence’ has been completed. The Review assesses the current and requisite distribution of safe emergency accommodation and has examined the current level of refuge provision, evidence of demand for services and unmet need, and analysis of proximity to refuge by local communities.

The will hopefully assist the whole of Government response in supporting victims of DSGBV and future  expansion of services. The Government will engage with Tusla, Non-Government Organisations, that play a key role in this area and Agencies to progress work in this area. It is important that the needs of those who experience domestic violence are met in the most appropriate way possible.

The Action Plan on the 2nd National DSGBV Strategy included a list of actions towards our ratification of the Istanbul Convention which took place in 2019. My Department reported on relevant actions to Department of Justice through the reporting framework of that Strategy, that included putting Children First on a statutory basis and ending corporal punishment by removal of the common law defence of reasonable chastisement. I would suggest the Deputy might address her broader question on how Ireland meets its obligations under the Istanbul Convention to my colleague the Minister for Justice.