I will raise an issue regarding a census of women's refuges in Ireland. This showed that in the first six months of this year, approximately 1,900 women fleeing domestic abuse, and their children, were turned away from safe places because there was no room. That is 1,900 women who had the courage to flee violence only to be told to go back because there was no room for them. I have spoken about this issue in the House before because it is personal to me. I have spoken about my own childhood and my father. He was a respected businessman but when alcohol took hold, the home became a different place - a place of fear. I still remember his car pulling up on the gravel. My mother would gather the four of us, my siblings and I, into her car and bring us to Punchestown Racecourse, where we would wait until the early hours of the morning until it was safe to return home. In that case, the car became our refuge.

When women have the courage to seek professional help, they are far too often told that there is no space. In 2026, that is just unacceptable. Having worked in homelessness and housing for almost 20 years, I have learned that you cannot ask someone to leave an unsafe place unless you can offer them somewhere safer to go. This is no longer just an issue of domestic violence. It is an issue of housing, justice and health. Families remain in refuges longer because there is nowhere for them to transition to. People who are trying to flee violence do not have a place to go.

I acknowledge the remarkable work of the different refuges, including Women's Aid, Safe Ireland and countless front-line organisations. They are doing extraordinary work but, unfortunately, that does not create beds. As legislators, it should be our clear ambition for no woman or child seeking safety from violence to ever be turned away because Ireland has run out of refuge space. That is the standard we should look for.