Domestic violence refuge accommodation
Deputy Carroll MacNeill raised the urgent need for refuge accommodation, linking it to violence against women and local efforts in Dún Laoghaire. The Taoiseach agreed it was a serious issue and said he wanted to accelerate provision using local authorities and interim measures.
Today is the eighth anniversary of the death of Sonia Blount, the 31-year-old Dublin woman who was killed by her ex-boyfriend hours after her three-year-old's birthday party when she ended their brief relationship. Violence against women remains a problem every day.
Today's review of accommodation published by the Minister, Deputy McEntee, is welcome and important. In Dún Laoghaire, that work has already well begun with collaboration between the council executive, the Garda through the joint policing committees and the Taoiseach's colleague, Councillor Mary Hanafin, to try to find accommodation for 20 family places. The review says ten; it is not enough. I know it is a good start but it is not enough.
There needs to be an implementation plan with flexibility for council areas to be able to get ahead. In Dún Laoghaire we are really struggling. Bray is full and Rathmines is closed. The council is working to try to find 20 extra spaces. If we can find those, whether they are in an old nursing home, religious building, bed and breakfast accommodation or whatever it happens to be, will the Government allow us to get ahead of the implementation schedule for the review for accommodation? Can we get ahead and deliver what is needed for families, women and men across Dún Laoghaire?
Comment on this
In short, yes. I spoke to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, with regard to this. In the next while, pending the establishment of an agency, this is a very serious issue. That list is priority urgent needs in certain counties and certain areas. I would like to accelerate the provision of refuge places, using local authorities in the interim, while we get more national structures in places to simplify and streamline the provision of refuge places and centres. The current system is that an entity has to apply to become an approved housing body, AHB, and so forth which, in my view, can be cumbersome. If we can do it faster then we should.