Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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8. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the progress made to double the number of refuge spaces over the lifetime of the zero tolerance strategy, from 141 to 282. [38171/24]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I am inquiring as to the progress on the strategy that was announced in June 2022, when the Government established a zero-tolerance attitude to gender-based, sexual and domestic violence. One of the commitments was that we would double the number of refuge spaces available. Will the Minister give us an update on how that is progressing?

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his interest in this very important issue. As he has mentioned, one of the overarching goals of the Zero Tolerance strategy is to ensure that everyone across the country who needs a refuge space will have access to one. Our commitment to double what we currently have represents the fastest ever expansion of refuge accommodation in this country.

Earlier this month, I was delighted to be joined by my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, to launch a new 12-unit refuge in Wexford. This is the first of 18 priority locations to complete construction. Just last week, €7.3 million in funding was provided to progress the building of new refuge units in Kerry under the capital assistance scheme. The opening of the new units in Wexford means there are 162 domestic violence units across the country, with four more expected to come on line in Louth before the end of the year and construction of a further 12 units in Kilcross in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown also beginning before the end of this year.

Having visited many refuges around the country and having seen some of the older refuges, smaller ones and larger ones and the services that are being provided, I am very mindful that the provision of a refuge is not just the provision of a roof over somebody's head or a bed to sleep in. That is extremely important. It is a safe space, a haven and somewhere for people to rest, to seek assistance and to get the support and help they need, including help to plan their lives. They are also for their children where they have also been victims in the overall scenario. That means we need to design not just bricks and mortar, but also services and ancillary supports. To that end, we have accelerated the delivery of additional refuge accommodation and have also considered the design of the type of accommodation that is needed, working very closely with those who are already providing services, with victims and with our colleagues in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Housing Agency.

Cuan, which has now been established, has a number of roles but one of its main roles is to accelerate the delivery of additional refuge accommodation year on year and it is doing just that. At present, 82 units are undergoing funding approval through the capital assistance scheme with a further ten proposals under review by colleagues in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Another 19 units have been identified as potential development opportunities. Every few weeks or months, new sites are coming on stream that can be repurposed without requiring a new build. Given the number of projects in the pipeline, we are on course to deliver the very ambitious but very necessary target of doubling the number of refuge spaces.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the fact that two years ago, in June 2022, the Government published its strategy, Zero Tolerance. The House will be aware that the central aim of that strategy was the adoption, as a society and a State, of a zero-tolerance attitude to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. What was beneficial about the strategy that was launched was that it was accompanied by an implementation plan. As the Minister has indicated, one of the central requirements of the implementation plan was that we would increase the number of refuge spaces available. I welcome the openings the Minister has identified. It is important that we continue to ensure there are sufficient refuge spaces throughout the country for victims of this type of violence, who are predominantly female. What we stated in 2022 was that we wanted to double the number from 141 spaces to 282 spaces. Have we achieved or exceeded that? Will the Minister give me an update on that?

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The ambition is to double the number in the lifetime of the strategy, which is only two years into its progress. We have not achieved that yet but I am confident that we will achieve it over the lifetime of the strategy. We are also developing safe houses. This is not just about providing wraparound support within the refuge itself. It is also about making sure that there are step-down facilities for women and children to go to, which will account for the vast majority of cases, and facilities for women who feel they do not need that full wraparound support but still need a safe space to go to. We have accelerated and gone beyond our targets as regards safe houses for this year, as we will also do next year. Protection is one of the key pillars of the Zero Tolerance strategy. It is about making sure that women or men who leave environments of domestic violence have a safe space to go to. The safe houses are supporting men in particular at the moment. Ultimately, we want a scenario in which victims stay in their homes. That is a very clear action as part of the Zero Tolerance strategy and a body of work is happening on that. However, we have to be realistic that these spaces are needed. We need to achieve that target. We are working hard on it and I am absolutely confident that we can achieve it.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I was pleased to read the implementation report in respect of 2023, which said that the number of safe homes, as it referred to them, had doubled in 2023 with 17 additional safe homes coming on stream, bringing the total number to 49 by the end of the year. I am also pleased to hear that the Minister expects we will be able to achieve the objective of the strategy, which is to double the number of spaces within the period of the implementation plan. I will mention something important, of which the Minister will be well aware. I was a bit disturbed to read the Women's Aid annual impact report, which said that there were 28,500 contacts with front-line domestic violence services in 2023 and 40,000 disclosures of abuse against women and children, representing an increase of 6,000 since 2022. Obviously, not everyone reports incidents of domestic violence. I know the Minister appreciates that it is a very serious problem in our society. However, the plan and the strategy are working. What we really need to do is to continue with the implementation. I ask the Minister to keep ensuring we can double the number of refuge spaces, as we committed to.

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister. As she knows, it has been announced that we now have our site and our build in Carlow. We have an old house that is being done up. We are working with Cuan. The lead agency is Amber Women's Refuge. The Minister was on KCLR and I have been on to her about this women's refuge every few weeks for the last few years. It is a really good story for Carlow. The Minister said the refuge would open in 2025. I will keep her to that. We are working very hard. I am on the committee for this. It is important that we get this up and running as soon as possible. At the moment, there are families leaving Carlow to go to other counties. Children have to be taken out of school and lose their friends because they will be gone for a few months. It is important to get this women's refuge up and running in Carlow. It is a good news story for Carlow.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I support the sentiments expressed by my colleagues and acknowledge what the Minister has undertaken. I will point out that, in my time in public life, I have never seen the level of violence towards women and mothers of children that I have seen in the past couple of years and in the past two years in particular. There is also this friction whereby the victim has to pursue the other partner for maintenance. This is a recurring factor and brings the two into contact. The continuous barrage of abuse is really frightening. The cases I have to deal with are worse than any I have ever come across in my life.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputies. I have said this many times and I will say it again; I believe we are dealing with an epidemic. It is in every town, village and corner of our society. More women are coming forward. It is mainly women although men are, of course, also victims. It is a very positive thing. We need to be able to respond with resources and supports. It is not just about providing refuge and accommodation. It is also about outreach services and supports. In the last four years alone, funding has gone from €20 million to €60 million. While a small fraction was used to set up our new agency, Cuan, last year, the vast majority of that money is going to deliver services, to expand services and to identify the need for new services in new areas. I have every intention of making sure we can expand further under next week's budget.

Work on the Carlow refuge will start next year. Obviously, I want to see it completed and concluded. The Deputy will see the same challenge we have faced in many areas where we do not have a refuge, which is that we are starting from the ground up. The strategy has been to put in place a very clear structure that means, whether there is a service on the ground or not and whether there is somebody who is committed to doing it or not, the structure can be brought together to work with the local authority to identify who will deliver the service, where the site will be, how it can be rolled out and how we can get the funding in place and make the application. Now that this structure is in place, it will allow for the acceleration of many of the projects that are already under way. I again thank Deputies for their comments.