269. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the steps he has taken to ensure the collection of data on the number of families and individuals accessing domestic violence refuges nationally. [54001/25]

Combatting domestic, sexual and gender-based violence (DSGBV) is a priority for me and for the Government, and ensuring reliable data on service use is central to this work.

In January 2024, Cuan, the new statutory agency dedicated to tackling DSGBV was established. Cuan’s role is to coordinate our national response and Government actions in the Third National Strategy on DSGBV and ensure better services and supports for victims and survivors. A key part of this is strengthening how data is gathered and used.

Cuan has a dedicated research and data function responsible for collecting and analysing data across the DSGBV sector, to enable better monitoring and planning for services.

To support this, the Cuan Hub has been established as a central platform for service providers to submit standardised financial and non-financial data. This allows for coordinated reporting across the 78 services Cuan funds and has facilitated the completion of a full financial and non-financial data validation process. This means Cuan can now quantify what additional services will be delivered with the new funding and assess the impact of the increased budget in service delivery terms.

Cuan estimates that in 2025, through the 78 services it funds, they will be supporting in the region of 44,000 individuals, men, women and children:

• Approximately 1,500 households will benefit from Cuan-funded DV accommodation.

• Approximately 35,000 individuals will be supported by Cuan-funded DV services (32,500 adults and 4,500 children).

• Approximately 7,000 individuals will be supported by Cuan-funded SV services (5,500 adults and 1,500 children).

As part of the Zero Tolerance Strategy, Government committed to doubling domestic violence accommodation capacity in Ireland by the end of 2026 from 141 to 282 family units. Cuan has a key function to coordinate delivery of the capital programme to increase safe accommodation capacity. A capital programme of this scale to deliver safe accommodation is unprecedented in Ireland.

Cuan is working closely with Domestic Violence services, Approved Housing Bodies, Local Authorities, the Department of Housing and the Housing Agency to coordinate local actions and to support local services with delivery. By the end of 2024, almost all (14/18) priority locations had identified a site, one new refuge had opened and another had started construction. Estimated delivery timelines were worked through for all priority locations.

Cuan has worked with services and partners to assess and review progress and identify a series of actions to accelerate delivery and to bring safe accommodation on stream as quickly as possible to meet the needs of those fleeing violence.

On foot of this review, completed in spring 2025, the following will be delivered:

• 52 new family refuge units by the end of 2026.

• 45 new safe homes by the end of 2026.

• with 50 new units under construction by the end of 2026.

At the outset of the zero tolerance strategy there were 49 safe homes in place. Therefore, by the end of 2026 it is envisaged there will be 94 safe homes and 193 refuges completed bringing total safe accommodation to 287, with 50 further refuge units under construction.

In addition, we have commissioned the CSO to develop a national survey on the prevalence of domestic violence, which is underway. This will provide robust, independent data to further inform policy and service provision.