Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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394. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if a commitment will be made to a full national review of pay and conditions for staff in women and children's refuges across the country given refuge staff are currently aligned to the HSE social care scales as recommended in the Murphy report 2008, but this is not reflected in the budgetary process and staff have not had a pay rise or increase of increment in 12 years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12659/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Since the establishment of Tusla in 2014, the Agency has funded many organisations, mostly in the community and voluntary sector, to deliver services on its behalf under sections 56 to 59 of the Child and Family Agency Act 2013. These organisations operate independently of Tusla and are responsible for the recruitment of their employees and the terms and conditions under which they are employed. The remuneration of these staff is a matter for these organisations as employers. 

Each organisation funded under these arrangements operate independently of Tusla. Each is responsible for the recruitment of employees and the terms and conditions under which individuals are employed. Section 56(14) of the Act of 2013 stipulates that ‘an arrangement under this section shall not give rise to an employment relationship between a service provider, its employees or agents on the one hand and the Agency on the other’.

Prior to the establishment of Tusla in 2014 some of the organisations now funded under section 56 were funded by the HSE under section 39 of the Health Act 2004. In October 2018 the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) reached agreement between the Department of Health and HSE and trade unions representing staff in certain section 39 organisations. Pay restoration in relation to organisations funded through section 39 was applied to organisations who met certain specific criteria.

The criteria related to the organisations rather than types of individual workers that are employed in them. The criteria included only organisations who received in excess of an agreed, specified amount from the HSE by way of the Service Level Agreement process. Pay restoration was limited and solely applicable to those organisations included in the initial WRC agreement. This process has reached a final resolution and there is no scope to revisit eligibility criteria.

Tusla remains in close contact with service providers directly or through service level agreements allowing for key concerns to be raised and discussed appropriately

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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395. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his plans and strategies to assist refuge services to expand their outreach and counselling services and create additional safe spaces to meet with clients who are in many cases very vulnerable; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12664/22]

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 coordinated by the Department of Justice. Tusla, the Child and Family Agency provides supports for victims of domestic violence primarily through funded NGO service providers.

Government has agreed that the Department of Justice will assume responsibility for responding to DSGBV, and that the responsibility for policy and services will sit within that Department. Tusla will continue to have responsibility for the existing DSGBV services it provides and funds until the new administrative arrangements are in place. 

Minister McEntee is leading on the development of a new whole-of-government 3rd national strategy to combat DSGBV. The goal of the strategy is zero tolerance for violence against women and it will be structured around the four pillars of the Istanbul Convention: prevention, protection, prosecution and co-ordinated policies. 

The Strategy will be accompanied by a detailed action plan setting out how each of the aims will be achieved, who is responsible for them and the timeframe for delivery. This is currently being drafted with the sector so that it is targeted, ambitious and deliverable.

Feedback is also being invited through a focused consultation process on the final draft of the strategy. The draft strategy has been shared as part of the ongoing consultation led by Minister McEntee. A public consultation is also underway and it will help ensure that the Strategy is correctly focused on addressing the areas that people feel need the most urgent attention.

Following these consultations, the strategy and action plan will be finalised, brought to Government, and it is expected that the Strategy will be published in April.

It is important to note that the Third National Strategy will also make provision for how we deliver refuge spaces, both in the immediate and longer term, to cater for the needs of victims. 

Tusla’s recently published ‘Review of the Provision of Accommodation for Victims of Domestic Violence’ 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.

Government will be guided by the recommendations of the Review. I expect that the implementation process for the Review will identify priority areas where there is greatest urgency in achieving safe accommodation for victims of DSGBV.