Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 November 2020
544. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the date by which the statistics relating to the use of Tusla-funded emergency domestic violence accommodation for 2019 will be available. [34678/20]
View answer546. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of requests for domestic refuge in Tusla-funded services that went unmet in 2019 and to date in 2020 due to the fact that refuges were full. [34680/20]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 544 and 546 together.
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, provides funding and coordination supports to some 60 organisations that deliver a range of services for victims of domestic, sexual and gender based violence throughout the country.
In 2020, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs is providing Tusla with core funding of €25.3m for almost 60 organisations that deliver services for victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence (DSGBV). To date, Tusla has advised that it also has issued some €800,000 to DSGBV services to respond to the challenges arising from COVID-19 this year, with a further €400,000 in identified costs currently expected to maintain business-as-usual across all DSGBV services up to year end.
With regard to statistics relating to the use of Tusla-funded emergency domestic violence accommodation, Tusla has advised that data is collected retrospectively. The Department's understanding is that full data for 2019 is not yet available. I had hoped that a data report would be ready by Quarter 3 this year. However, Tusla had to prioritise the urgent needs of services after the outbreak of COVID-19, which delayed a number of processes. Tusla expects to finalise the substantive work of data verification later this year.
