Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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114. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the plans that are in place for a dedicated women’s refuge centre in County Cavan; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8556/22]

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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147. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the timeline for the provision of domestic violence refuges in counties Laois and Offaly; and if a funding stream is in place for these capital works. [8680/22]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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149. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the status of plans to extend domestic violence refuge spaces in the nine counties without these spaces including County Roscommon; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8672/22]

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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162. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if her Department is committed to the provision of domestic violence refuges in counties Laois and Offaly. [8679/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 114, 147, 149 and 162 together.

As the Deputies may be aware, Minister O’Gorman and I brought the Tusla ‘Review of the Provision of Accommodation for Victims of Domestic Violence’ to Government earlier this week and it has now been published.

The review highlights gaps in geographical coverage and inadequate provision of safe accommodation, including refuges, to meet population needs. It recommends an approach to address this with immediate, medium and long term actions required and provides a list of priority areas where additional services would address the most immediate need.

The Review has made a number of recommendations on the location of refuge facilities, funding and future configuration of services that will support the needs of victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. Tusla’s review will inform future investments in DSGBV facilities and services.

At present, the time taken from initiation to the delivery of units can taken a number of years. I want to see if it is possible to shorten that timeframe and to that end, I have established a high level Inter-Departmental Group to review the current system for the provision of refuge spaces and to identify changes that can be made to the system to deliver additional spaces in the shortest timeframe possible