Vol. 502 No. 6
286 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the proposals, if any, he has to finance the implementations of the task force on violence against women in the south east region (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8879/99]
I have outlined to the House on previous occasions that my Department is responsible for funding elements of the statutory response to the issue of violence against women. As the Deputy may be aware my Department funds the running costs of the national steering committee on violence against women, which is chaired by Deputy Mary Wallace, Minister of State and it is responsible for funding programmes and facilities to deal with perpetrators. Recently the Department has provided funding for research projects on topics related to the work of the national steering committee.
In relation to the provision of services for victims of violence, the House will be aware that funding for these services is made available to the various organisations through the health boards and the Department of Health and Children. The Minister for Health and Children has made available, in 1999, an additional £1 million to bring the total spend by the health boards this year to almost £5 million.
I would also like to remind the House that there are now regional committees on violence against women operating in each of the health board areas whose remit is to provide a cohesive and multi-disciplinary response to victims. The committees are analysing existing services, identifying gaps in provision and developing plans to address the needs which have been identified.
