Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 September 2021
523. Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the amount that has been allocated to organisations that provide services that combat domestic, sexual and gender-based violence in each of the years 2016 to 2020, in tabular form. [46498/21]
View answerThe response to Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence (DSGBV) is a cross Departmental and multi-agency issue with overall policy coordinated by the Department of Justice. Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has statutory responsibility for the care and protection of victims of DSGBV. My Department provided the following funding to Tusla for the provision of DSGBV services:
|
Year |
Funding (million) |
|
2016 |
€20.6 |
|
2017 |
€22.1 |
|
2018 |
€23.8 |
|
2019 |
€25.3 |
|
2020 |
€25.3 |
In addition, further supports of up to €2m were made available by Tusla to DSGBV service providers for once-off costs mainly that have arisen as a result of Covid-19.
The Department of Justice provides funding to promote and assist the development of specific support services to victims of crime, including domestic and sexual crime, within the criminal justice system. This year, funding of more than €3.2 million has been secured for raising awareness of DSGBV of which over €1.4m is to organisations whose primary focus is on combatting DSGBV. Furthermore, over €4.2 million is allocated to support victims of crime. This includes funding allocated to organisations whose remit is supporting victims of crime in general. Within this amount, over €2.8 million is granted to organisations whose primary focus is supporting victims of DSGBV.
I do not currently have the tabular information sought be the Deputy in respect of the funding by Department of Justice that it allocated to DSGBV services in previous years. I am informed that the Department of Justice will write directly to the Deputy with this information.
The following was received on 4 Febuary 2022.
As the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O'Gorman T.D., stated in his reply to you, his Department has statutory responsibility for the care and protection of victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence (DSGBV) and are the primary funders of organisations that deliver frontline services.
In order to be of assistance and ensure you get the comprehensive response, Minister O’Gorman asked that I write to you with information about funding my Department has provided, under our Victims of Crime Scheme, to organisations that assist victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.
Under this scheme, my Department provides funding to promote and assist the development of specific support services to victims of crime within the criminal justice system, which of course includes victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. These services provide important information and support to victims such as emotional support, court accompaniment, and accompaniment to Garda interviews.
The amount of funding provided from this funding scheme to organisations that support victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence in each of the years from 2016 to 2020 is laid out in the following table:
|
Year |
Funding |
|
2016 |
€806,599 |
|
2017 |
€950,736 |
|
2018 |
€938,860 |
|
2019 |
€983,390 |
|
2020 |
€1,125,028 |
I think it is important to state that the details on the funding provided relate only to organisations whose primary remit is to support victims of domestic, sexual violence and gender-based violence. It is important to note that many other organisations that my Department provides funding to under this scheme, while providing services to victims of crime more generally, also play a vital role in helping domestic, sexual and gender-based victims recover from the trauma that they have been subjected to.
