Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 November 2021
428. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if a service (details supplied) in County Donegal will be resourced in 2022 by central Government to respond to the increasing demand on its service over recent years. [58697/21]
View answerThe response to Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence (DSGBV) is a cross Departmental and multi-agency issue. Overall policy is coordinated by the Department of Justice. Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has statutory responsibility for the care and protection of victims of DSGBV under the Child and Family Agency Act 2013. Capital funding for approved housing bodies, including services that provide refuge accommodation for victims of DSGBV, is provided by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
My Department is providing Tusla with core funding of €30 million this year to fund DSGBV services. This includes a €2.7 million increase in core services, bringing core service provision to €28 million, with an additional €2 million of one-off contingency funding being made available to help services cope with the ongoing effects of COVID-19. In Budget 2022, Tusla has been allocated an additional €41 million over the 2021 allocation. I have directed Tusla to use part of these additional resources to maintain supports for DSGBV services and address the recommendations arising from Tusla’s Accommodation Review of refuge provision.
Tusla has recently provided information about mechanisms for domestic, sexual & gender-based violence (DSGBV) organisations to access resources on a short-term basis in order to assure their capacity to respond in the context of the worsening Covid-19 situation.
Domestic Violence support services in Donegal are currently provided by the following organisations:
- Donegal Women’s Domestic Violence Service – 2021 Tusla funding €571,000, which includes €10,000 additional funding to address service pressures
- Donegal Women’s Centre – 2021 Tusla funding €150,000, which includes €36,000 additional funding to address service pressures
- Donegal Rape Crisis Centre is also funded by Tusla to provide services to victims of domestic, sexual and gender based violence, with Tusla funding of €237,711 in 2021.
Services are provided across Co. Donegal on an all-county basis, including services provided on an outreach basis to the Inishowen area and responding to crisis situations wherever in the county these occur. Tusla is aware of the pressures overall on domestic, sexual and gender based violence services in the context of the Covid-19 situation, and that there have been increasing demand for services across the country. The particular features of Co. Donegal generally and Inishowen are recognised in terms of challenges in access to services for people living in rural areas.
Overall funding from Tusla for domestic, sexual and gender based services in 2021 is just under €30m, which includes €2m Covid-19 related contingency funding. Funding for 2022 will support maintaining current levels of service provision and address unmet need to the greatest degree possible within available resources. There is an intention to look further at overall domestic violence responses across Co. Donegal in 2022 and any future developments around service provision will be considered in that context. Tusla will be engaged with local stakeholders, including Lifeline Inishowen as part of that process.
