Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 April 2018
541. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of adults and children in Tusla-funded domestic violence refuges and domestic violence step-down accommodation, respectively, in 2017. [17585/18]
View answerTusla, the Child and Family Agency, has statutory responsibility for the provision of care and protection to victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. In discharging its statutory responsibility, Tusla supports 20 emergency refuge and support services in providing services for women and children fleeing domestic violence. Twenty four community-based domestic violence support services and 16 rape crisis centres also receive financial support from Tusla. Funding for these services was increased by €1.7m in 2018, to a total of €23.8m.
Tusla does not have access to live data on refuge use. However, information provided by funded domestic violence services indicates that refuges consistently operate at full or near full-capacity. Any vacancies are generally attributed to the turnover between the discharge and admission of clients.
Tusla-funded services provide data to Tusla retrospectively on an annual basis. The data provided to the Deputy previously refers to the use of services in 2016. 2017 data will be made available later in the year.
