866. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of people who accessed Cuan-funded services in 2024, 2025 and to date in 2026; and the number unable to access accommodation or specialist assistance when requested. [64724/26]

This Government has taken unprecedented actions to tackle all forms of domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence (DSGBV). This includes increasing funding to almost €80 million under Budget 2026, to support Cuan and services working to tackle DSGBV and the implementation of the Zero Tolerance Strategy.

In July of this year, I published the 2025 Annual Report of Cuan, which details the comprehensive steps taken during the agency's first full year operating under its 2025–2027 Corporate Plan, and marked the accomplishment of several high-impact, measurable initiatives. The milestones documented within the review reflect the scope and depth of progress made in combating domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and supporting victims and survivors.[ ]The report highlights progress achieved through the four pillars of prevention, protection, prosecution, and policy coordination, supporting Ireland’s commitment under the Istanbul Convention and advancing implementation of the Zero Tolerance Strategy through coordinated national action.

I am advised that Cuan invested €58.4 million in 78 specialist services nationwide, ensuring that victims and survivors continued to have access to high quality, accessible and specialist supports. Cuan is still in the early stages of developing data sets for more robust figures on how many users each service has assisted. In total, 23,239 individuals were supported across Cuan-funded domestic violence services last year, of these:

• 19,706 individuals received community-based supports outside accommodation settings.

• 1,655 households were accommodated in domestic violence refuge and Safe Homes with an average stay of 6 weeks. There were 1,693 households accommodated in 2024 with an average stay of 7 weeks.

• 3,284 children were supported by DV services, 3,015 were supported in DV accommodation.

In 2025, Cuan allocated €3.2 million to facilitate a targeted funding call to support the expansion of services and innovation across a range of domestic and sexual violence services and perpetrator programmes. The funding call targeted key areas, including: expansion of counselling services for adolescent victim-survivors, improved access to domestic and sexual violence services for marginalised groups, increased capacity to address increasing service volumes across national helplines, training for staff and board members working in DSGBV organisations on a range of topics from governance to trauma-informed complex care, and increased access to perpetrator programmes.

I am further advised that the funding provided by Cuan is expected to provide additional and improved training for more than 1,100 frontline professionals in 67 DSGBV services. An additional 5,484 victim-survivors will benefit from increased availability of services and appointments, and an additional 167 individuals will engage with perpetrator programmes.

While Cuan provides funding to frontline organisations supporting victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence (DSGBV), responsibility for the day-to-day management, governance and operational oversight of these organisations’ rests solely with the organisations themselves.