Deputy Pat McCartan gave me notice of his intention to raise on the Adjournment the subject matter of the funding of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre. The matter is in order and I now call on the Deputy.
Adjournment Debate. - Dublin Rape Crisis Centre.
A Cheann Comhairle, first I should like to thank you and your office for allowing me raise this matter. Second, I should like to thank the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Leyden, for taking time to be present to listen to what I believe to be an urgent but succinct appeal which, at this late hour, just past midnight, can be made quickly without delaying the House unnecessarily.
Within the past few days the Rape Crisis Centre in Dublin issued a clear and unambiguous statement that, as of 23 December next, they will be obliged to close their doors and cease operating as a service for the victims of what is perhaps one of the most heinous crimes that can be perpetrated on women and young people in our community. From that date forward they say they simply will not have any more money to pay staff wages, rent, rates or be capable of continuing to provide that service to victims.
It is a centre that, in the past year, enjoyed a certain but not inordinate amount of public funding. As I understand the position, from the national lottery, from Government, they received the sum of £20,000, that having been the only occasion on which they received funds from that source. They received also their standing payment of £21,000 from the Eastern Health Board, that being part of a yearly commitment.
It is ironic that we must highlight this problem on their behalf and seek urgent assistance from Government particularly when one considers the debates that have taken place in this House in recent weeks in at least three of which concern was expressed forcibly by Members on all sides of the House, first in the debate on the Video Recordings Bill, when the claim was made that video nasties often are the source of and prompt crimes of violence against women. There were also the expressions of outrage in this House about these types of crime and the need to take effective urgent action to counteract them.
The introduction of the Child Care Bill opened up a discussion of that matter when fears were expressed by Members on all sides of the House on behalf of children. Concern was expressed about the need to ensure that adequate child care services were put in place comprehensively on a national level to deal with children neglected. Even in the past few days, in the course of our discussion on the Supplementary Estimate for the Department of Justice we noted that the Government have extended the remit of the criminal injuries compensation tribunal to the tune of £4 million, recognising the need to ensure where possible that victims of crime are fairly compensated. In the course of that debate the Minister for Justice indicated that he and his Government regarded victims of rape as constituting special cases that must be considered by his Department as a priority in any review of the workings of that tribunal.
In the context of all of those expressions of concern for women and children, the victims of sexual and violent crime, we are faced with the prospect that a unique and comprehensive services is at the end of its financial tether and existence. The services provided by the Rape Crisis Centre in Dublin are comprehensive and unique, unique in that there is no other agency in the State that provides the same service, comprehensive in that all the needs of victims of sexual and violent assault, women and children, are provided through the trojan counselling and assistance offered by their employees.
It is worth outlining some of those services in order to appreciate just how important is this centre to the victims of such horrible crimes. Since the centre was established in 1979, with the help of a few volunteers and one telephone, it has developed into a professional service second to none and is a credit to all concerned. For example, a victim of a gross sexual assault, once they have contacted the centre, will be given one to one counselling immediately and on demand; there is no waiting; there are no restrictions. The counselling involves a one-to-one interview initially to help a victim cope with the trauma of the offence. In time the victim is led into an on-going group therapy, in some instances on a daily but, more usually, a weekly basis. The services provided by the centre help people in confronting and dealing with their families, with the police in the investigative procedures, in attending at courts and, then, introducing people to professional services outside, remaining always at the side of a victim helping them to cope with what is often the complete destruction of life around them.
Because of the lapse of time involved, of those who come to complain of past sexual abuse 70 per cent of those who approached the centre in the year to October 1988 fell into that category. Unfortunately, because of lack of resources, these people are obliged to join a queue. I understand that at present there are as many as 300 people in that category on long-term counselling with another 300 or thereabouts on a waiting list in the hope that their turn will come.
The centre has indicated that they have a high throughput of volunteers supervised by full-time therapists. They need another five at least but they cannot employ additional people or commit themselves to future planning and development because they do not have the guarantee of future funds. On the question of funding it is important to underline the fact that this is not a handout organisation, one that does not work for itself as well. For example, their financial report for the year to the end of October 1988 showed that their income from fund raising was estimated at £150,000, of which they raised, themselves, £90,000. By way of seminars, lectures, collections, donations and counselling fees they managed to raise the remainder of that amount, minus the £41,000 provided in the way I described earlier. They are obliged to spend £45,000 investing in fund-raising events themselves. Their single biggest expense, amounting to half of total expenditure, is salaries and wages for their staff. Therefore, they are trying desperately hard to maintain themselves and they are committing the vast majority of their resources to those working in the field, providing what I say is a most unique and important service.
Another thing to remember about the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre is that it lobbies Parliament. It is significant that within two years of its foundation it had succeeded in convincing the Government of the need to update a most outdated law with the amending Act of 1981. They had not been happy with the workings of that Act and their efforts in this regard were appreciated on all sides of the House, including the present Government, as expressed by the Minister of State, Deputy Geoghegan-Quinn on occasions. Their submissions to the Joint Committee on Women's Rights and to the Law Reform Commission promoted a great number of research douments and proposals in regard to an updating of the law and they have won a commitment from the Government that in the New Year, if not sooner, there will be a further amending Act to deal with many of the outstanding problems in regard to our rape law.
For that reason it is even more important to appreciate the comprehensiveness of their activities and their impact on society. In that regard it is worth looking at who the centre helps. In their analysis of the current year, out of a total of 1,234 counselled it is worth remembering that over 700 were young children or people complaining of the trauma of child sexual abuse. It is also worth remembering that the vast majority of these had been referred to the Centre by outside agencies, social workers, doctors, teachers and members of the Garda Síochána. Professional and voluntary agencies, not just within Dublin but from all around the country, look to the centre for assistance and advice. It is therefore urgent and essential that we do something and I hope the Minister when replying will be able to offer some hope to the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, to all of those agencies and organisations and to all those who urgently need the assistance provided by the centre, young children and adults, the victims of these horrible crimes.
Earlier I listened to the debate on the National Lottery (Amendment) Bill and I am reminded of the words of the Minister for the Environment, Deputy Flynn, who, in one of the more robust contributions, said that the Government were going to get on with the real tasks once this needless Bill was out of the way. It has now been put out of the way. The issue was decided upon following a vote of the House tonight and I am asking the Government to regard this issue as one of the major tasks facing us. The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre gave due notice of the problems facing it. In terms of finance in order to be able to survive in the coming year it needs a minimum of £100,000 and that is on the basis that it continues with its excellent fund raising work, even though it is questionable whether it should have to carry out this fund raising in view of the excellent service it provides. I plead with the Minister that in his reply, which I look forward to hearing, he will offer some hope to all those I have mentioned and see to it that the future of this centre is put on a sound foundation.
I am delighted that Deputy McCartan was given the opportunity to raise this issue and I should first make it clear that I and the Minister, Dr. O'Hanlon, especially recognise the role of the voluntary agency in the provision of health and social services. This commitment is reflected in the financial assistance given directly by my Department and through health boards to a wide range of agencies for the handicapped, physical and mental handicapped through the elderly, children and other disadvantaged persons. In spite of the financial difficulties in the health sector, I have been careful both in budgeting at central level and in my instructions to health boards, to ensure, in a planned and co-ordinated way, the protection and maintenance of the services for the vulnerable members of our community.
On the other hand, it must be recognised that no agency can assume an open-ended commitment by the State to their undertakings. It would put us in an impossible position if we were to step in to meet the deficits of organisations which expand their activities beyond their own capacity to finance them and beyond the prior agreement and commitment of the public authorities to support such expansion. This is what is at the root of the present difficulties of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre.
In spite of the fact that they recruited additional staff and assumed additional activities which it must have been clear to them the health board grant and their own fund-raising could not finance, I sought to alleviate their problem by giving the centre a special grant of £20,000 from national lottery funds. They have, therefore, had in effect what amounts to a 100 per cent increase in their funding from the public sector for 1988.
Nonetheless, there is now a demand by the centre that I advance them a further and even more substantial grant. This is unreasonable, and unfair to the many other organisations who are also facing special difficulties at the present and who would have as much claim to such extra State aid as the Rape Crisis Centre.
There is a further important consideration relevant to the work which the centre asks me to subsidise so heavily. By their own admission, the greater part of their counselling is with alleged cases of child abuse, only a small proportion, at that, of current cases. I must therefore outline for the information of the House the very substantial and structured provision which I have already made for dealing with child abuse.
In July 1987 my Department published a new set of child abuse guidelines. They set out in considerable detail recommended procedures for the reporting, recording, investigation and management of suspected cases of child abuse, including sexual abuse. These new guidelines have been welcomed by all the various interest groups. They are designed to ensure a systematic and sensitive approach to caring for the victims of abuse. The problem of child abuse requires an effective and coherent multi-disciplinary response from our health and social services and this is emphasised and underlined through the guidelines.
I accept that there is a real need to increase the range of services available for sexually abused children. I have this year already allocated special funds to enable services at Temple Street and Crumlin Children's hospitals to be significantly expanded. There is, however, a need also to improve services outside the Dublin area and I have therefore allocated special additional funds of £500,000 from my Department's share of the national lottery surplus to the health boards outside of Dublin to enable them to improve their capacity for the assessment and investigation of alleged cases of child abuse, including child sexual abuse.
The new Child Care Bill at present before the Dáil represents a significant improvement of the overall legal framework for tackling child abuse. This underlines the need for agencies like the Rape Crisis Centre to consult with, and co-ordinate their work with, the services of the statutory authorities to ensure that confusion and expensive duplication do not occur in this serious and sensitive area. Both the health boards and I acknowledge the special role of the voluntary agency in personal services like this but it is out of the question to present them with a blank cheque for activities they undertake without consultation or agreement.
I must place on record my admiration for the work of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre. Nevertheless in view of the serious financial straits the centre is in just now, I am consulting further with the Eastern Health Board in relation to their current and future role. We will certainly take into account the very detailed submission which has been made here tonight by Deputy Pat McCartan in relation to the very serious and financial difficulties of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre. Because I appreciate the serious and difficult situation of the centre, my officials will be fully briefed on the contribution which has been made here this evening in order that the issue can be tackled as a matter of urgency.
The Dáil adjourned at 12.25 a.m. on Thursday, 17 November, until 10.30 a.m.