My Department provided funding to a number of organisations in regard to initiatives to highlight the 16 days of action against violence against women in various parts of the country. The initiatives funded included a conference on perpetrators of domestic violence and an exhibition of 365 international posters to raise awareness of the issue of violence against women.
My Department is one of five with responsibilities with regard to violence against women. The Department of Health and Children, through the health boards, has responsibility for the provision of care services to victims of violence, including domestic violence, rape and sexual assault. It also provides funding for non-governmental organisations such as Women's Aid, rape crisis centres, women's refuges and so on. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government assists in the provision of crisis accommodation, including refuge accommodation, for people who are forced to leave their homes as a result of domestic violence. The Department of Education and Science is responsible for educating pupils about this issue. The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs funds community development programmes and grant aids local groups dealing with the issue.
My Department's responsibilities with regard to violence against women include legislative initiatives, the provision of any necessary responses from the civil and criminal systems, preventative measures that can be put in place, including intervention programmes for perpetrators of domestic violence, and awareness raising measures aimed at changing society's attitude to domestic violence. In addition, my Department co-ordinates the work of the national steering committee on violence against women, which is chaired by my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Fahey.
The Deputy is aware of the significant body of legislation that has been enacted by the Oireachtas with regard to all forms of violence against women and the importance which has been placed on the enactment of such legislation. The Deputy is also aware of the importance given to crimes against women by the Garda Síochána and the courts. Cases involving domestic violence receive priority treatment by the Legal Aid Board.
Over the last number of years, my Department has supported the establishment and development of a number of intervention programmes for perpetrators of domestic violence. These include MOVE Ireland, which operates 11 programmes nationally, the south east domestic violence intervention project, which operates four programmes in the south east, and the National Domestic Violence Intervention Agency, which is operating on a pilot basis in the Dún Laoghaire and Bray District Court areas.
In addition, my Department, on behalf of the national steering committee on violence against women, has conducted a number of awareness raising campaigns around the various aspects of violence against women in recent years. In conjunction with the committee, the Department is developing a national television and radio advertising campaign with regard to domestic violence, which will be conducted jointly with the relevant authorities in Northern Ireland in the new year.