Home is supposed to be a safe place of protection and security for people. However, for thousands of men, women and children, their homes, especially during lockdown and restrictions, have been places of daily terror. In recent days, the Department of Justice has furnished Aontú with statistics on domestic violence. There has been a dramatic increase in the level of domestic violence in every county in this State. In my own county of Meath, for example, in 2021, 1,518 reports of domestic violence were made. That is in stark contrast with 2019, which was pre-pandemic, when 1,217 such reports were made. There was a 20% increase in those two years. Each call to a helpline is a crisis in a person's life.

The trend is replicated throughout the country. According to Safe Ireland, there were 57,277 calls to its helplines in 2020. There were 23,785 incidents reported to the Garda, of which 7,600 involved charges. There were 4,000 breaches of protective orders in the same year. Shockingly, 19 new women and three new children contacted the local services every day. Those are incredible figures. For every single woman who contacted the Garda, there were those who felt, for whatever reason, unable to pick up the phone.

Domestic violence is getting worse in this State. The Covid restrictions have played a significant part in that. I have been told that with each new lockdown, there were significant spikes in the number of people who contacted those services. According to the Council of Europe, Ireland has only one third of the refuge support accommodation that is necessary. We currently have 144 such places in this State. We should have 450. There are nine counties in this State with no domestic violence accommodation whatsoever. In counties such as Cavan and Monaghan, it is left to activists such as Councillor Sarah O'Reilly to fight for that accommodation.

Because of the lack of spaces, it is estimated that 1,351 women did not get access to accommodation between March and August 2020. It is a scandal. It is happening at a time when people are rightly shocked at the level of violence there is against women in the State. I have been told we need a €9 million investment right now for increased service provision. We need €112 million right now for increased capital investment to build units where families can take refuge. Will the Taoiseach guarantee that this year this funding will be made available?

I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very serious issue for us as a society. The level and scale of domestic violence is shocking and unacceptable. The funding will be provided to deal with it. Tusla will soon publish its review of the provision of accommodation for victims of domestic violence. This will assist in developing a plan to address the shortfall of adequate refuge provision and the building of centres. The Minister for Justice, as we said last week, is bringing to a conclusion a national strategy to combat domestic violence, sexual violence and gender-based violence. That should be ready by early March. It will focus on prevention, protection, prosecution and co-ordinated policies. The Minister will lead the policy and the development of services.

We want to streamline the provision of centres in particular in terms of capital and current provision. Zero tolerance for domestic violence is the object of the strategy. This involves provision, which I acknowledge is not there in some counties. Under the Cabinet committee that I will chair we will follow through on meeting the objectives that have been set and that will emerge from the Tusla review, and in terms of making sure we can do it in a more streamlined, faster and more effective manner. Resources will not be the issue in getting this developed.

There will also be a strong legislative arm to this. The Minister is creating a new criminal offence of stalking, which Senator Lisa Chambers has been progressing with others in the Seanad. The Minister and Senator Chambers are working together on this and on non-fatal strangulation. A new hate crime Bill will be published by the Minister, Deputy McEntee, in the summer. This will introduce new specific aggravated offences with enhanced penalties for crimes motivated by prejudice against certain characteristics, including gender. The Minister will also publish a new sexual offences Bill involving many important changes. The Minister will shortly sign an order to bring into operation the Criminal Procedure Act 2021, allowing for pretrial hearings that will reduce delays in the trial process that might re-traumatise victims. I reassure the Deputy this is getting top priority from the Government and will continue to do so.

I welcome the strategy that will be published in March but all the strategies in the world will not make a difference to the level of accommodation provided unless funding is also provided. We can stack strategies to the ceiling of the Dáil. Will the Taoiseach commit to making sure that, on the day of the strategy being published, he will also publish the funding that will accompany the strategy?

It is not just domestic violence that has received a spike. Yesterday, I received information that there was an increase in the number of babies born with alcohol and drug addiction in the State. Just before Christmas, I received information that 70,000 children were referred to Tusla last year. This is more children than do the leaving certificate in a given year. There has been a major spike with regard to the mental health of children. The development of children with special needs has reversed over recent years. Hospital waiting lists have ballooned. Cancer diagnosis screening and treatment have collapsed. On Friday, the Taoiseach mentioned the Government would conduct an investigation into the measures taken over the past two years with regard to restrictions. Will the Taoiseach give us a date as to when that review or investigation will take place so we can learn from what happened over the past two years and make sure the damage that was done is not replicated?

That is a separate question entirely in terms of Covid-19 which I will deal with-----

The figures are pointing to-----

I know but let us be honest that this is a wider issue. First of all, significant additional funding has been provided this year through the Department of Justice and Tusla and funding to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in respect of all of the strands of the issue around domestic violence and addressing it. Additional funding was provided this year but the strategy will outline and indicate the necessity for further funding, particularly in respect of the centres. The resources will be provided to fulfil the targets and the commitments within the strategy itself. I have always said that there has to be a full evaluation of how the country performed in respect of Covid-19. We need to do further research, certainly, on the domestic violence implications that arose from Covid-19 and the lockdowns, in particular, and get a further evaluation.