New State agency to take responsibility for victims of domestic violence
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Domestic violence organisations have welcomed news a statutory agency is to be set up to take responsibility for Domestic Sexual and Gender-Based Violence.
It comes as a report on levels of domestic violence accommodation to be formally published on Wednesday will recommend that up to 60 additional spaces be created as a matter of urgency, in a move that would mean every county having a number of DV shelter beds for the first time.
Minister for Justice Helen Mcentee is to brief NGOs on the issue and a public consultation will then be launched later this week. However, it has already emerged a statutory agency is to be established to take responsibility for the area of DSGBV.
Safe Ireland said the creation of the new body could help create "a new paradigm for responding to violence against women in the 21st century".
Safe Ireland CEO Mary McDermott said: “A dedicated agency with responsibility for DSGBV is a major step towards achieving the structural reform necessary to address the continued and growing problem of violence against women.
"Our hope is that it will have sufficient reach and power to truly affect an integrated cross-departmental response in the short-term, and ultimately eliminate violence against women into the future.
"To achieve this, it must be adequately resourced to do this work effectively. It will be crucial therefore that the governing legislation which will empower the new agency is sufficiently comprehensive to ensure that a long-term whole-of-government response can be deployed which will address the socio-political drivers of DSGBV and remove all structural impediments to change."
It's understood it could take up to two years before the new agency is fully up and running, and it will also require supporting legislation.
Meanwhile, the audit into the current level of DV accommodation, undertaken by Tusla, will be published today.
It will recommend extended provision of shelter spaces and that every county has refuge spaces, which is currently not the case.
The Department of Justice is assuming responsibility for the provision of domestic, sexual and gender based violence services, such as the provision of refuges, from the Department of Children.
It's understood Minister McEntee intends to initially prioritise a significant number of areas highlighted by Tusla in the audit and, in the medium term, there will be further service expansion in other areas.
The Minister also intends to develop an implementation plan in which everyone who needs a refuge space will get one.
The issue of domestic abuse has come to the fore of public attention over the course of the pandemic, with rising levels of garda investigations and referrals to Tusla in cases which also involve children.
Safe Ireland has suggested other initiatives could be introduced, such as waiving the means test requirement for exceptional needs payments or for a GP-only card.
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