Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

59. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth further to Parliamentary Questions No. 154 of 23 March 2022, the engagement he has had with the Minister for Justice with regard to the implementation of the recommendations of the Tusla review of accommodation services for victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence; to report on the work of the High Level InterDepartmental Group which was established to explore issues around refuge provision and service expansion, and on which his Department is represented; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28488/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Thank you deputy for once again raising this matter. It is wholly appropriate that it remains a prominent issue for discussion and warrants our attention. 

As you know the response to Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence is a cross-Departmental and multi-agency issue. With input from the Taoiseach, Minister McEntee and I have worked intensively with our officials on the Audit of the segmentation of Government’s response to Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence and how the results of that audit fits with the Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence.

As a result of those discussions and in response to the Audit, we have agreed that the Department of Justice will become the lead Department with responsibility for responding to Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence, and that responsibility for policy, accommodation and services will also sit within the Department of Justice. In the meantime, Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, will continue to have responsibility for accommodation and services while the new administrative arrangements are put in place.

In February 2022, the Minister for Justice and I jointly submitted a memorandum to the Government on the publication of Tusla's Accommodation Review. We requested the Government to note that the Programme for Government commits to implement a plan for future refuge space and recommends an approach to address this with immediate, medium and long term actions. We jointly issued a statement on the publication of the review.

The ultimate goal is that everyone who needs a refuge space will get one, and we are all working with partners in the sector and across Government and its agencies to achieve that.

A High Level Interdepartmental Group, as recommended by the Review, has been established to explore issues around refuge provision, service expansion and to identify changes that can be made to the system to deliver additional spaces as effectively as possible. As we progress this work we will be engaging with local authorities, government departments and State agencies across the country to source refuge provision.

The Interdepartmental Group is chaired by the Department of Justice, with members from my Department, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Department of Taoiseach and Tusla. I understand that the high level Inter-Departmental Group, has met on a number of occasions, and is due to report by the end of June.

Timelines for delivery of additional places, as well as further targets for nationwide delivery of refuge accommodation, will be outlined in the Department of Justice's Third National Strategy and further detail will be contained in the associated action plan.

I strongly urge any group seeking to develop a refuge, notify Tusla in the first instance of their plans so they can be helped to progress them as appropriate.