Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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287. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the progress that has been made to bring Operation Encompass to Ireland in line with the commitment to explore this in the implementation plan for the third National Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Strategy. [58486/22]

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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288. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if her attention has been drawn to the fact that Operation Encompass is already successfully running in Northern Ireland. [58487/22]

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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289. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the recent announcement that Operation Encompass is being rolled out to a further 325 schools in Northern Ireland due to the impact of same. [58488/22]

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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290. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when and the way that she proposes to progress implementation of a programme such as Operation Encompass; and if she will outline these or any other specific early intervention mechanisms that are to be put in place to support children who are living with domestic abuse in their homes. [58489/22]

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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291. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the amount that has been put aside for the implementation plan for Operation Encompass or any other early intervention mechanism to support children living with domestic violence. [58490/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 287, 288, 289, 290 and 291 together.

As the Deputy will be aware, action 2.5.2 under the Zero Tolerance Strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence commits to a “complete examination of the potential application of an approach on the lines of Operation Encompass in an Irish context”. My Department is engaging with the Departments of Education and Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, as well as An Garda Síochána on the issue.

I can inform the Deputy that, in October 2020, having received correspondence from the Children's Ombudsman, Department officials consulted with An Garda Síochána in relation to the practicality of a child protection initiative along the lines of Operation Encompass, which was operating in England and Wales.

Operation Encompass involves the police service making immediate notification, within 24 hours, directly to teachers/principals after they have been called to a domestic violence incident in which children were a factor. The practice in the UK which involves police and teacher collaboration, differs from how cases are dealt with in this jurisdiction where there is contact with social services, or Tusla.

One key factor to bear in mind is that it would appear that there is limited interaction between police and social services in the UK, except where a crime is disclosed. In contrast, in this jurisdiction, Garda policy provides that Tusla are to be notified of every domestic abuse-related incident affecting or involving children, which is not the case in other jurisdictions.

Due to this different institutional landscape, it is important that all aspects are fully considered prior to the introduction of a programme such as Operation Encompass and that process is underway.