Mary Lou McDonald
Question:6. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach his intention to establish additional units-divisions in his Department to those outlined in the programme for Government. [29336/23]
View answerTuesday, 27 June 2023
Questions (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
Neasa Hourigan
Question:7. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Taoiseach if he is considering new divisions in his Department. [30914/23]
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Cian O'Callaghan
Question:8. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Taoiseach his intention to establish additional units or divisions in his Department to those outlined in the programme for Government. [30945/23]
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Ruairí Ó Murchú
Question:9. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Taoiseach his intention to establish additional units or divisions in his Department to those outlined in the programme for Government. [30973/23]
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Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:10. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach his intention to establish additional units-divisions in his Department to those outlined in the programme for Government. [30975/23]
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Paul Murphy
Question:11. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach his intention to establish additional units or divisions in his Department to those outlined in the programme for Government. [30978/23]
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Mick Barry
Question:12. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach his intention to establish additional units or divisions in his Department to those outlined in the programme for Government. [31141/23]
View answerOral answers (8 contributions)
I propose to take question Nos. 6 to 12, inclusive, together.
The Department of the Taoiseach is continuing to help advance the programme for Government commitments. The priorities set out in the Department's Strategy Statement 2021-2023 reflect the role of the Department to assist me as Taoiseach and the Government to ensure a sustainable economy and a successful society, pursue Ireland's interests abroad, implement the Government’s programme and build a better future for Ireland and all its citizens. Both the shared island unit and social dialogue unit were established in the Department of the Taoiseach as provided for in the programme for Government.
The shared island unit has been engaging with all communities through a comprehensive dialogue series. It has also been commissioning research to deepen understanding of the whole island, in economic, social, cultural and political terms. Over the last two years, Government has allocated just under €250 million from the shared island fund. This has been for projects and investments that respond to common interests and concerns for people North and South, including climate action and biodiversity conservation, regional development, innovation and deepening our societal connections.
The social dialogue unit co-ordinates and assists the Government’s overall approach to social dialogue through a variety of mechanisms. These include regular engagement through the Labour Employer Economic Forum, LEEF, the national economic dialogue, the National Economic and Social Council and the work of the various citizens’ assemblies.
More recently, the new child poverty and well-being unit has been established in the Department. It will enhance co-ordination across Government, provide strategic leadership and bring enhanced accountability to the child poverty agenda.
The programme for Government also sets out a strong framework for climate action and places it at the heart of the work of all Departments. Through the work of the climate action unit the Department of the Taoiseach exercises a leadership role to ensure climate action is prioritised in all Government Departments. The Department of the Taoiseach will shortly publish its new strategy statement for the three-year period from 2023 to 2025.
Women's Aid released devastating figures last week showing nearly 32,000 contacts to its regional or national services last year. Behind each contact is a woman, who often has children, living in unimaginable conditions. State investment in new safe accommodation and refuges is too low, as is the funding of services. Implementation of the third national strategy is also too low and too slow. A whole-of-government approach is needed and that should be led by the Taoiseach.
Services in my constituency are at breaking point. We saw a 9% increase in domestic violence calls to the Garda in Cork last year. Even more women should be able to escape these situations, but cannot because the services they need are not there. Groups like Cuanlee Refuge and Mná Feasa in Cork do Trojan work. I recently had to direct a lady to them for support. The support they gave her was huge. This was a very vulnerable lady. They have accompanied her to court and have given her support and a safety net. However, these services are operating on budgets that are far too low. Last year I met with Cuanlee along with Deputies Martin Kenny and Ó Laoghaire. We heard stories of women and families being forced to go to other shelters because it was full. There is no place for larger families to go to. There is often no place for women fleeing domestic violence to go to. The crisis in domestic violence is compounded by the crisis in homelessness and housing. The best thing we can do is for the Government to lend the groups the support they need.
Every single household and family, especially families with children, who end up homeless and are evicted into homelessness through no fault of their own are being let down by the State. They are being very badly let down. They are being traumatised. I have heard the Taoiseach say most people get out of homelessness within a relatively short time, but that is not the experience I am seeing. I am seeing families and kids in homeless situations for years on end. They are often not even in their own locality. This means families having to travel from very poor-quality accommodation in the city centre to bring their kids to school in Dún Laoghaire in really impossible circumstances.
People are left in that accommodation for long periods of time. Others are traumatised by the possibility of eviction. That brings up the issue, which I would like to hear the Government give a commitment on, of our getting a report before the summer recess on what is happening with all the tenant in situ applications. I am hearing there are great delays, problems and excuses being made about why purchases to prevent homelessness are not happening. I would also like to get a detailed report from the Minister before that. I ask the Taoiseach to pay particular attention to families and children who are in long-term homelessness in emergency accommodation and who are not even in their own locality near their schools and family supports.
I asked the Taoiseach about the Iceland workers earlier and he agreed with me the workers should be paid what they were owed and should go to the WRC to achieve that. The problem, as the Taoiseach knows, is that is not a simple or quick process. The State treats wage theft differently than it does other forms of theft. If I go into an Iceland store tomorrow and walk out with a frozen pizza I have not paid for, the store can call the Garda and I can be arrested and prosecuted. That option is not open to the workers. They cannot call the Garda and say they have not got paid the money they are owed, which is tens of thousands of euro, and say they want the owner arrested. That is a fundamental problem. Instead, the workers are forced to go down the WRC route. The commission is underpowered and under-resourced. There are now only slightly more labour inspectors in the country than dog wardens. It is completely unacceptable.
I have two questions. Will the Taoiseach set up a special unit to pursue the wage-theft issue and ensure workers are not ripped off in this way? Does he agree wage theft should be criminalised in the same way other theft is?
Cork’s first-ever trans pride march will take place through the city this Saturday. The march will assemble at 2 p.m. at the Cork City Library. It is a defiant choice of venue, given it has been the scene of anti-LGBTQ+ protests, including the ripping-up of books by far-right activists this year. This march is a protest. It is first and foremost a protest against the increase in hate crime against our trans community. One of the organisers of Saturday’s protest, Saoirse Mackin, told me today she knows more people who have suffered violence over the last month than she knows who have suffered violence over the previous years.
It is also a protest against the inaction of the Taoiseach’s Government, which has allowed waiting lists for gender-affirming healthcare in this State to build up to six to ten years. Ireland is now ranked worst in Europe for provision of such healthcare. What steps does the Taoiseach intend to take to improve this situation?
Deputy Gould spoke first and raised the issue of domestic and gender-based violence. I once again put on the record of the House that this is a major priority for the Government, and especially for the Minister for Justice, Deputy Helen McEntee, who takes the lead on this and is very passionate about it. What we are doing is reflected in a range of policies and legislation, as well as unprecedented increases in budget allocations. Last year we published our five-year ambitious zero-tolerance strategy with funding of €363 million dedicated to it. One of the overarching goals is to ensure that everyone who needs a refuge space will get one. We are working closely with the sector and others to achieve this. We will double the number of refuge spaces over the lifetime of the strategy and we will meet our obligations under the Istanbul Convention on domestic violence.
The zero-tolerance strategy also sets a target to increase the number of safe homes. Last year an additional 12 safe homes were put in place and there will be a further increase from 32 to 50 by the end of this year. A new statutory agency under the aegis of the Department of Justice will be established to ensure a permanent dedicated focus on this important area of work. Under the strategy the Minister, Deputy McEntee, is progressing legislation to double the maximum sentence for assault causing harm, to update sexual offences legislation, including in relation to the law around consent, to continue reforms to put the victim at the centre of the criminal justice system, and also to improve the monitoring of sex offenders through the Sex Offenders (Amendment) Bill.
With regard to the Women's Aid impact report, there is no doubt that the figures are stark and shocking. There were more than 33,000 disclosures of domestic abuse against women and children last year, including 1,000 of sexual abuse. Four or five of those in contact were abused by a current or former male intimate partner. Contact with Women's Aid is up more than 16%. The report underlines the importance of implementing our strategy and the job now for the Government and society is for us as individuals to change things and to stop accepting the stark and disturbing figures, and to stop accepting domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, or the attitudes that underpin these crimes.
On the specific issue of refuge spaces - and I mentioned safe homes earlier - we have committed to doubling the number of refuge spaces. We are working to provide additional safe homes and step-down accommodation. The development of 24 units is currently under way at three locations in Wexford, Dundalk and Navan. We expect them to be completed by next year. A further 98 will be provided in priority locations by 2025, along with a further 19 additional upgraded units by the end of the strategy.
We have also published the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022, which will double the maximum sentence for assault causing harm, making stalking and non-fatal strangulation stand-alone offences, and expanding the existing harassment offence.
Deputy Boyd Barrett referred to long-term family homelessness. I agree it is unacceptably high. Family homelessness will happen from time to time but when it happens it should be rare, be brief and should not be repeated. I must check the numbers but I understand that in most cases we are able to find proper accommodation for families within a year, and for about half of the cases it is within six to seven months. I acknowledge that this is a long time in the life of a child. It can be complex. At the moment some 40% of people in emergency accommodation are not Irish citizens and many of those are not entitled to social housing. We are drilling down into more detail on that, so we will have better figures in the months ahead. Even in my own experience in helping people in family homelessness - and I am helping a lot of people at the moment through my constituency service - I can think of one family that has been in emergency accommodation for four years. They have been four years homeless but what does this mean? It means they are being accommodated in a two-bedroom apartment provided by the council for the best part of those four years. They have turned down two offers of accommodation. They may have done so for good reasons given the space available and the size of the family, but it is not often as simple as people represent it. People in long-term homelessness may often be in an apartment or a house with their own door and their own key and they may have been offered accommodation, which they did not accept for reasons that may well be good reasons. It is often not the way people think it is.
On the tenant in situ scheme, I just received an update from the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, the other day. It looks like there are approximately 2,000 of these now in train, which is very encouraging. These are 2,000 families that might have faced eviction and having to find a new place to live are now being transitioned into social housing because we are buying those units from landlords who are selling up. It takes time to do that work. Anyone who has bought or sold a house knows how long it can take. It is looking like about 2,000 this year, which is not a bad number.
Will we get a report before the summer recess or as part of the summer statement?
Yes, I can certainly ask for that. We will be doing the end of second quarter report on Housing For All in about two weeks' time. Perhaps we can include it on that. In Fingal, my own county, it is about 200. There is a good chance we will exceed the target of 1,500 for this year. Whether all those purchases are signed and sealed by the end of the year is a different question. It may well be more than 2,000. I believe it has been a successful policy.
It is my understanding that wage theft is a criminal offence under non-payment of wages but I will have to check that again. It might be the case that we should strengthen the law. Not paying someone €200 to which he or she is entitled is the same as taking €200 from that person and the penalty should be similar.
On trans healthcare, I met with the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, during Pride week last week as well as meeting with Transgender Equality Network Ireland, TENI, and most of the groups representing the LGBT community. We agreed there would be further engagement on trans healthcare, which is not up to scratch in Ireland and does not compare favourably with most of the other European countries. There have been real difficulties recruiting staff in those areas and a lot of the medicine in those areas is still being developed.