Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 10 Jul 2024

Last week, we learned from a reply to a parliamentary question put by Deputy Tóibín that 40 children who were taken into State care by Tusla are currently missing. It is understood that 22 of those missing are separated children seeking international protection and unaccompanied minors. On 29 February, Deputy Tóibín raised in this House for the second time with the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, the case of a 14-year-old girl who went missing within an hour of being placed by Tusla in State care, only to be found a year later locked in a brothel.

There are 40 children missing from State care and there is no outcry, just as there was no outcry or, indeed, Government outrage in June 2023 in response to a report from University College Dublin's school of social policy which revealed that children taken into State care by Tusla are going missing and are being targeted and sexually exploited by co-ordinated gangs of predatory men. A major contributing factor leading to children missing from care is the placement of vulnerable children in emergency accommodation and private residential settings that are not subject to inspections. Following a report in The Irish Times, one of those providers is now subject to a Garda investigation for allegedly falsifying Garda vetting documents and pre-employment screenings of staff.

Last September, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, admitted that his Department deleted three out of four reports pertaining to children taken into care by Tusla which were sent to him in May 2023 by a now retired judge, Dermot Simms, while he was still on the Bench. Judge Simms told the Minister about this and he expressed his "utmost concern for the immediate predicament and welfare of children who are in the care of the State”. Tusla's failure to comply with several High Court orders to provide specialist residential care for at-risk children is now bringing the country's judicial system into disrepute. In February, Tusla lost its Supreme Court appeals against three court orders in the same week. If I or any other citizen had done this, we would be in contempt of court and there would be a huge outcry. It is just not acceptable. It beggars belief. It is hard to fathom how Tusla is allowed to operate in breach of statutory obligations and flagrantly remain in contempt of High Court orders.

The final report from the Child Law Project, which has been reporting since 2013 on Tusla cases in family courts, was published this week. It contains 70 reports about children taken by Tusla into State care before the courts. It is a horrific litany that details children in care not being assigned a social worker; children being sexually abused in foster care; and children being trafficked across the country for sex by predatory males. Indeed, top judges have said they are in despair at the lack of placements by social workers. Responding to the report, the Ombudsman for Children, Dr. Niall Muldoon, expressed his despair at the situation facing children taken into care by Tusla. According to his statement:

It is unheard of that judges now have to continuously and repeatedly hold Tusla to account for their failings in their statutory duty to children. It is not only judges that are worried. I have heard from social workers, social care workers and guardian ad litems (GAL) about their real fear for the welfare of these children.

Dr. Muldoon went on to say that 2024 was "the 15th Anniversary of the Ryan report", which we all remember. He said that the Ryan report "exposed the darkest abuse of children in care, and yet this Government is allowing the only agency with authority to publicly report on these cases, to simply quietly dissolve, without any alternative in place". The Department must renew that contract or put out a tender for a new organisation to monitor what is going on here. It is totally unacceptable. The Child Law Project headed by Dr. Maria Corbett is the only insight the public is getting into court cases involving children taken into care by Tusla-----

I thank Deputy McGrath for raising this very important issue. Children reported missing from care are recognised as being among the most vulnerable in society. It is always concerning where a child appears to be missing or has absconded from care, even for a short period of time. Tusla has a statutory responsibility under the Child Care Act 1991 for children in care, and the agency collects information regarding the number of children who go missing or abscond from a placement.

Missing children in care is an issue which covers both mainstream services for children in the care of Tusla and separated children seeking international protection, SCSIP. The Department of children receives fortnightly reports from the Tusla SCSIP service that includes the most recent statistics on referrals to the service, the number of admissions to care, placement types and the numbers missing from care. The latest data received from the Tusla SCSIP service on children missing from care, as of 4 July, indicates that 33 children are missing from care, of whom 22 are missing from Tusla’s SCSIP service and 11 are missing from mainstream care. Of the total of 33 children in care who are currently missing, nine went missing in 2023 and 24 went missing in 2024. Of the 22 SCSIP children currently missing, 21 have been missing for over two weeks. All of the 11 children currently missing from mainstream care have been missing for less than two weeks.

The vast majority of young people in the SCSIP service reported as missing are over 16 years of age. Some children or young people who go missing from care communicate their intention to travel on to other countries to join family members, and some indicate that it was never their intention to remain in Ireland and leave soon after they arrive in the country. Nonetheless, those young people who do not subsequently make Tusla aware of their whereabouts are counted as missing and An Garda Síochána is notified accordingly.

Tusla and An Garda Síochána work together collaboratively on children missing in care cases through the An Garda Síochána -Tusla joint working protocol on missing children. Most of the children and young people reported missing return to their placement after a brief period of time and remain in a safe and caring environment. It is important to note that where a child is absent from their residential care placement for more than 15 minutes they may be reported as missing from care under the joint protocol. This could be for a range of reasons, such as missing their curfew or not returning to their placement at an agreed time. This joint protocol is being reviewed and updated by Tusla and An Garda Síochána. Once An Garda Síochána is notified that a child is deemed missing, and once a child has been reported absent, the Garda has primary responsibility for investigating the child’s whereabouts. While the Garda has primary responsibility for investigating once a child is reported missing, Tusla staff maintain regular contact with the Garda throughout the investigation, and pass on all relevant information to assist in the safe return of the child. Tusla also prepares an absence management plan for each child in care. This plan is a tool to manage the risk in the event of a child going missing. The Garda national missing persons unit has oversight over a Garda investigation on the ongoing attempts to locate the child, including liaison with Interpol if there is a concern that the child has left the jurisdiction.

With all due respect, the Minister of State's response grossly understates the underperformance of Tusla in meeting its statutory obligation to protect the country's most vulnerable children in State care. Tusla's dysfunction is hiding in plain sight, as was pointed out to those present on 13 June in the Dáil public petitions committee meeting by the Alliance of Birth Mothers Campaigning for Justice. They are petitioning to have legislation introduced to provide HIQA with statutory powers to sanction Tusla where inspections find that the agency is non-compliant with regulatory standards.

Last week, Judge Conor Fottrell said it was shocking, appalling and damning that 225 children taken into Tusla's care in Dublin, south-west Kildare, west Wicklow and Dublin south-central have no social worker. They are his words, not mine. Tusla's "failure to inform the courts of this, as the agency was obliged to do, was "a failure of management at local, regional and national level" and raised "serious concerns" about issues of governance and communication within the agency at all levels.

It is a welcome development to see members of the Judiciary are now raising their voices on a regular basis. However, we must not forget there are some rotten apples in the barrel who, along with Tusla, are sheltered from public scrutiny by the in camera rule. This rule is very discouraging and damaging to cases. In May, former Circuit Court judge Gerard O'Brien was jailed for four years for assaulting six boys and attempting to rape one other. Following this jailing, I was contacted by a mother who believes her children were unlawfully detained by gardaí and handed over to Tusla and social workers, who were successful in getting a court order to take the children into State care following an ex-parte hearing at the District Court. She was not informed of that. It is an appalling litany. For the Minister of State to come in here and just read out that bland statement is totally unacceptable. It is time the Government took this highly dysfunctional organisation under proper legal process and made them accountable to the families they are wrecking in many cases.

If I may just respond to the Deputy, in relation to 33 children missing, the whereabouts are unknown in relation to the 33. However, ten of them have actually been in contact. Ten out of the 33 have been in contact but their whereabouts are still not known, just to put it into perspective.

There is close co-operation between the Garda and Tusla. Operation Cosnaím was set up and, as part of same, all concerns of potential child sexual exploitation regarding a child who is in the care of Tusla, are notified to a centralised point in the Garda national protective services bureau. Operation Cosnaím is currently been reviewed and updated. The Department chairs a core group which includes the Department of Justice’s international protection office, Tusla, the International Protection Accommodation Service, and the child care performance and social work unit in the Department.

The Minister is continually working with colleagues in the relevant Government Departments and other State agencies to address and manage the risk and to meet the needs of this cohort of children and young people. Ireland has been accommodating increasing numbers of those fleeing the conflict in Ukraine and also international protection applicants, resulting in an unprecedented level of pressure on State services including Tusla’s residential, foster care, alternative care and social work services. The Department and Tusla work closely on the safeguarding framework for all children in care to ensure that it continues to be sufficiently robust to protect children from evolving risks.

It is important to note this issue, whereby young people seek international protection here and then reunite with their families afterwards. There are figures on that as well. Of the 33 who are reported missing, ten are in communication with the services. Tusla and the Garda work very closely together on identifying the location of any child who goes missing.

I thank the Minister of State for being here this morning. It is great to see a Minister from the Department here. I congratulate him on his promotion and wish him the very best in the weeks, months and hopefully years ahead. This is an issue I have been raising for quite some time. I am lucky enough to represent a constituency that is growing rapidly. A lot of houses are being built there, thousands in Midleton. We are concerned about the N25 road between Midleton and Carrigtohill which the council and TII had huge plans to upgrade. The Minister of State might look at that at another time. Lakeview roundabout is beyond capacity and is very dangerous. There are plans to upgrade the road from Midleton to Youghal as well and to build a new road. Some €450,000 was given this year to appoint consultants and so on. That is all ongoing.

In the meantime, almost every morning now we hear about congestion on the N25 approaching Castlemartyr from the east. Every day this is the case. On summer days there are infuriating long roadblocks of traffic just held up there, all the time. We have a greenway as well going from Midleton to Youghal. It is advancing and is very popular and fantastic to see. I invite the Minister of State to come down during the summer and cycle along it. Part of it is open and more of it will be open later this year. That runs along the old railway line. When that railway line was constructed initially way back, it was meant to be a double line. The greenway takes up about half of it. I have looked at the drone footage taken recently and there is space left almost as wide again.

I was very involved in the campaign to open the rail link to Midleton, which has proven to be very successful, so much so that they are going to move to a ten-minute frequency of trains. They will be battery operated. The trains in the morning and evening peak times are full at the moment. It is really successful. There were calls at the time to extend that line to Youghal. It was deemed not to be economically feasible. In fact, we were lucky to get the service to Midleton open. The crash came shortly after it did open. The Midleton to Youghal link is still there. I have been talking to people about what is possible here. We have come up with an interim solution of a rapid bus transit system. These are very popular all over the world. They do not require tracks or signalling. All it requires is Tarmac the width of a bus, that is all. It does not need to be too big as we could have passing bays for other buses. That could be done along the way from Youghal to Midleton.

I have written to TII and got a letter back saying it was a novel, interesting idea that had not been proposed before but they did not think it would be feasible. I am asking the Minister of State this morning to carry out a feasibility study on this idea to see what it would cost. We do not need a very wide roadway; it can be quite narrow. The width of one bus is enough. We are talking about trams that would move up and down during the day and would link with the train service from Midleton. People from Youghal, Killeagh and Mogeely could use that, which would take some of the traffic off the N25. I spoke about that already. There is really worrying congestion on the N25 between Midleton and Youghal at the moment and this would help.

With the train service to Midleton being improved with regard to capacity and frequency, it would make a lot of sense to do this. I know the new road from Midleton to Youghal is in the planning stage. TII has said it will take years and years - maybe ten years or more - before we see it finalised, and that is being optimistic. This is something that could be done relatively easily. I know there are pinch points along the way, such as bridges that have to be replaced, and there are issues in the area, but all I want the Minister of State to do this morning is to ask TII to carry out a study on it to see what is possible and whether it can be done. There may be some CPOs involved here as well. It is a relatively inexpensive proposal, compared to a railway. I have seen the drone footage. There is space there for it and it would make a lot of sense. It would link the towns of Youghal and Midleton. It would not really impinge on the greenway because the buses would not travel all the time. They would only be there as required, which would be maybe every half an hour or every hour in the middle of the day. It would not impinge on people using the greenway.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle agus leis an Teachta. I thank Deputy Stanton for his kind comments. Indeed, I worked well with him when the shoe was on the other foot, when he was in ministerial office and I was a backbench Deputy. I thank him for the courtesy he extended to me at the time and his helpfulness in dealing with my queries. I hope I can reciprocate.

I had the opportunity to visit County Cork on one of my first ministerial outings on Monday of this week. Granted, I was not in the Deputy's area, but I went to Macroom with Deputy Aindrias Moynihan. I saw Millstreet railway station, the upgraded N22 and the opportunity for active travel on the old N22. There are a lot of opportunities there. I am very excited about the opportunities for active travel and for greener projects such as the one the Deputy has spoken of in his Topical Issue. It is quite an interesting proposal. We have all seen the "rail to trail" idea, whereby an old railway line is stripped out and replaced with a greenway where the land is still reserved and owned by the State. It is popular in the United States and elsewhere. It has been done here. The Deputy's "trail to bus" suggestion almost does things the other way round while making use of land that may be available. It is an interesting proposition.

A number of projects are ongoing in the Cork area, as the Deputy will probably be aware. The Cork metropolitan area transport strategy has been developed to deliver an accessible, integrated transport network, including a bus system, that enables the sustainable growth of Cork up to 2040. Good progress has been made in delivering on that strategy, including the BusConnects Cork programme, which will be transformative for Cork, as BusConnects generally will be for all cities. The designers of that programme, Jarrett Walker and Associates, carried out a review of bus services in the Cork metropolitan area in conjunction with the National Transport Authority, Cork City Council, Cork County Council and Bus Éireann and developed a new network of bus services for the Cork metropolitan area. Following an extensive public consultation process, the new BusConnects network was finalised and published in June 2022. This includes the proposed 31X bus route between Youghal and Cork city centre, which will pass through Midleton. This route will provide a relevant road-based route for the Cork-Youghal, as opposed to the greenway, which is naturally focused on walking and cycling. The Deputy's proposal is to run a bus along the greenway and I would like to drill into it a little more. Instinctively, it appears that it may conflict with pedestrians and cyclists. The 31X will provide a road-based route which would not have that conflict. I am open to the Deputy’s thoughts on that and look forward to hearing them.

Under Connecting Ireland, there is a proposed regional bus corridor route from Cork to Waterford via Youghal, with more frequent services on this corridor and better integration of existing services. It is proposed that this will commence in the coming years. The 31X and other important regional routes will be rolled out in that corridor and will make an impact on the area. The draft network under BusConnects Cork aims to provide an increase of over 50% in bus services across the city. This will provide a better overall network to allow more people to access more places more efficiently, which is at the heart of public transport. These redesigned services will be rolled out in the coming years. Another key component of BusConnects Cork is bus priority measures to tackle the issue of traffic congestion and improve punctuality and reliability. The NTA has conducted a series of public consultations on the new sustainable transport corridors for Cork, including bus routes. A third round of public consultation on the preferred route options for 11 corridors concluded in December. There was a positive response to those proposals and the preparation of a business case is ongoing. Again, that is a further roll-out of additional bus services and corridors in the area.

Additionally, the all-island strategic rail review will inform the development of the railway sector on the island of Ireland over the coming decades. The draft review, which was published for strategic environmental assessment in July of last year, considered a proposal to develop a new railway line between Midleton and Waterford, which would serve Youghal. This did not make the final cut when the recommendations went for implementation. The final review, taking account of the issues raised in the public consultation, will be submitted to the Government shortly and published by the end of the summer.

The development of high-quality cycle infrastructure is a priority for the Department. Greenways enable greater connectivity between local communities. The development of an inter-urban cycling corridor between Waterford and Cork is a key priority project in that programme. I thank the Deputy for raising this Topical Issue and look forward to hearing his response to what I have said.

I thank the Minister of State. There is a lot of good news there, which is very welcome. The big issue here is Castlemartyr, which lies between Midleton and Youghal. The Minister of State might be aware of this very picturesque village and of Castlemartyr Resort, which is very popular. Castlemartyr is a major pinch point. During morning and evening rush hour, there are kilometres of traffic jams on both sides. The same thing happens in the summer when people go to the beaches in the area. It is extraordinarily frustrating. People use the byroads as rat runs to try to avoid Castlemartyr. It is polluting because traffic can be stuck there for an hour or more trying to get through. That is the real elephant in the room.

I know there are plans to build a new road between Midleton and Youghal. As I said earlier, it might take years or decades before we see it because it is a major project - a motorway, if you will. I will explain the proposal for rapid bus transit on the greenway. There is space alongside the greenway. It would not interfere with the greenway at all. I would see a fence between them both. The bus would only travel periodically, as required, maybe more frequently in the morning and evening at rush hour and not as often in the middle of the day. It is a relatively cheap option, as opposed to putting a rail track down, with signalling and all the rest of it. It should be explored because the area is being choked due to the issues in Castlemartyr. When I proposed a relief road around Castlemartyr a little while ago, I was told that was not possible because of the karst limestone landscape in the area, with caves and underground lakes, etc. The people I spoke to were afraid to go near it.

This proposal is something that needs attention. I know that on a high-level look they are saying it is not possible, but I would like more of a deep dive into this. I think there is something in it. I have spoken to Iarnród Éireann and it agrees with me that it can be done. I ask the Minister of State to use his good offices to ask TII to carry out a feasibility study and to do a costing of it. I do not want a dual carriageway there. I do not even want a double-laned highway. A single lane is enough. It is wide enough for that. I have seen the drone footage. It is feasibly possible. It should be examined. It could be done in a relatively short period of time compared to the motorway. Otherwise we will be stuck with these massive traffic jams in Castlemartyr for another decade or more.

The proposed route will have to go through it and that is the difficulty. As I understand it, the Deputy's proposal uses the existing greenway infrastructure, which would avoid the bottleneck pinch point at Castlemartyr. That is clear. It is not so much that it is being said that it is not possible but that it is not desirable, which is naturally slightly different. I hear what the Deputy has said. The view of the Department is that the 31X provides that connectivity alongside the other services that are being rolled out in the area. I ask the Deputy to send me that proposal because I will study it and bring it back to TII and the NTA and see what their view on it is. As I said, a number of services are being rolled out. Eleven sustainable transport corridors in the Cork area are being rolled out at the moment, with consultation concluding last December. There was positive stakeholder engagement. They seem to be popular and seem to provide the right service in the right places. The business case for BusConnects Cork will progress shortly. I mentioned the redesigned bus routes across the Cork metropolitan area, which will be part of the Connecting Ireland programme, which will follow shortly also. As I mentioned, the Cork metropolitan area transport strategy is progressing, with significant elements of strategy around the Cork region.

The Cork area commuter rail programme is significant. We are seeing new rail services not just in Dublin but also in Cork and around the country, which is a really positive thing. It is great to see that. This is probably the largest investment in the rail network in Cork ever undertaken by the State. Phase 1 of the Cork area commuter rail programme is progressing well, with works on a new through platform at Kent Station, a resignalling of the network and double tracking from Glounthaune to Midleton, with the track to be complete by 2026. They are all positive moves to get people in the region moving in an efficient and environmentally friendly way on public transport. I thank the Deputy for his suggestion. I invite him to submit the business case or proposal to me for further study, which I will then take to the Department. I might return to the Deputy in due course to see whether this is something that can be progressed. I hear the opportunity it presents and I am open to the idea. Let us see whether we can take it further.

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I raise this important issue with the Minister, Deputy McEntee, this morning regarding the nine counties that do not have domestic violence refuges.

This is a very serious matter. We know there is a huge problem out there. A commitment was given some years back that the nine counties would have services. The Minister has stated publicly that she is making it a priority. We all want to make it a priority and, certainly, the party I represent, Sinn Féin, believes it needs to be given a sense of priority. Laois and Offaly are two of the counties without a refuge or accommodation for domestic violence victims. Victims and their children are forced to leave not just their counties but, in some cases, the midlands, which has obvious consequences, such as taking children away from schools and taking families away from doctors, services, family and the support of friends.

There is an epidemic of domestic violence, unfortunately. We have seen the figures that have come out from Women's Aid and other sources, with Women's Aid suggesting there were over 40,000 disclosures in 2023. The Minister will agree it is shocking that we are in this situation in the year 2024. There is major abuse of women and children, and of men in a lower number of cases, although it is no less serious. I understand this is the highest reported number in 50 years. It is astronomical. Some 52% of women and 28% of men are reported to experience sexual violence. These are shocking figures.

It is important for victims to have a safe refuge. When they flee the abusive situation or violence, a safe space is needed for them to work out a way forward. We know it is a crisis situation not just for the victim but also for the children, and it is important that they have a safe space where they can think about what they need to do. It is important that they can access support and help without being under pressure, and that they can connect to services, such as counselling, justice or court services, or the various other wraparound services that they need when they are in that crisis situation.

In County Laois, in excess of 100 families have to move out of the county temporarily every year because of serious domestic violence. It is important that we try to get centres going in the counties that do not have them. The problem is that when people are trying to source accommodation, they go through a process of trying to get private rented accommodation and they have to contact the local authorities to get that up and running, so they need time for that. The Minister, as a woman, will understand that, unfortunately, many people are forced to go back into the abusive situation, which is the worst thing of all. I have come across cases of constituents who leave an abusive situation and go into temporary accommodation, but they are not able to stay with friends and cannot get the safe space they need to get connected and plugged into the various services. They are not able to get alternative accommodation and they do not have a refuge to go to, so they go back into the situation of domestic violence. That is the worst of all possible worlds for them and the children.

I emphasise that this affects men and women, and I have seen both men and women constituents who are victims of it. However, there are roughly twice as many women as men who suffer it, according to the reports. It needs to be stamped out. We need to provide centres for them. I hope the Minister has information with regard to the nine counties. The Minister said it is a priority but we need to see it moved on at pace.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. When I was concluding the debate last week, I asked all Deputies to make sure we keep this on the agenda, so I welcome the fact today’s motion has been put down and that we have a debate on this issue directly after Topical Issues this morning. It means that we are all prioritising it and keeping that focus on it.

The Deputy is right that it is not just women who are impacted. We need to make sure, when we roll out refuge accommodation, supports and services, that while it is predominantly women and children who are impacted, it is also men. The Deputy will see that in the work done on the roll-out of refuges, there is a particular emphasis on safe houses and organisations are already using these spaces for men who are fleeing difficult and dangerous situations.

A central element of delivering on the zero-tolerance goal of the third national strategy was the establishment of the domestic, sexual and gender-based violence agency, Cuan, and I was very pleased that was up and running at the beginning of this year. There are a number of elements to its overall objectives but it has a specific mandate to drive the implementation of the strategy across Government, bringing the expertise and focus that is required to tackle what is such a complex issue across our society. Its budget has increased to €59 million, which is an increase of approximately €30 million in recent years. It works in collaboration with NGOs and services across the sector to make sure the best possible supports and services are in place to meet the needs of victims and survivors, which, of course, includes safe accommodation that is accessible, no matter where people are in a county. One of the main goals and remits of the agency is to ensure that people have access to safe and accessible accommodation.

One of the key actions in the third national strategy is to double the number of refuge spaces in the lifetime of the strategy, which runs to the end of 2026, and, beyond that, we want to go even further. Cuan has been working closely with the Department of Justice on the development of the 2024 implementation plan, which was published in April. There are 144 actions overall in the strategy for this year but it also sets out very clear deliverables for safe home and refuge accommodation. Planning and engagement are under way for the delivery of 150 additional family refuge units within the lifetime of the strategy. This includes 18 projects that are already under way, including projects in Laois, Offaly and the other counties mentioned. Some projects are at different stages. The delivery of eight new family units in Wexford will be complete by the end of this summer, 25 additional refuge units across two different projects will be under construction by the end of the year and we hope a further two projects will be in construction by the beginning of next year. The remainder of those projects are at different stages, with some at site acquisition or building acquisition, others that are progressing towards planning and others within the 18 projects that I mentioned where we are trying to identify a service provider.

The Deputy is right that it is not just about bricks and mortar. It is very important to try to get this point across to people. From the moment I started to engage with those who deliver the service and those who want to see more accommodation rolled out, the focus has been on getting it right. It is about making sure that when we identify a site or a building, it is not just to deliver the beds in the space, although that is very important. It is about the team that is delivering the service, making sure they have the capacity and capability and putting the right structures in place. It is also about the ancillary supports, for example, where children are involved or therapies are needed, and then looking at that follow-on regarding where people - women, children and men - go after they leave a safe house. All of that work is under way at present.

That is what is being done. Last year and into the beginning of this year, my Department, working with the Departments of housing, finance and children, has been looking at how we can put that blueprint in place to make sure we get this right. If a county is developing a refuge, it is not just the buildings or the bricks and mortar, but all of the services around that. That work is under way in the 18 different projects, including in Laois and Offaly. It will enable us to double the number of refuge spaces by the end of this strategy. I know we need to do more and go beyond that, and that is absolutely the objective here.

I thank the Minister for the reply. She mentioned the increased funding, which is welcome. In the case of Laois, a location has been identified and the council is very much on board, both the elected members and the council management. It is important that we try to move that on. We have an excellent service in the county, the Laois Domestic Abuse Service. The level of funding for these services is very important. Unfortunately, and I say this carefully, there is a huge demand for their services. I wish it were otherwise and I know the organisations and the Minister wish that too. The causes and the source of this issue need to be tackled as well. I ask the Minister to emphasise to other Government Ministers that it is important in the upcoming budget that domestic violence and abuse services are well funded. They run on a very low budget and while they do great work and have very dedicated staff, it is important that we fund them.

The Department official will be part of the team in the cases of Laois and Offaly.

I ask the Minister to convey to her officials a sense of urgency in respect of this matter. We are working on it at local level. It is a priority for Sinn Féin, as I hope it is for everybody else, to get the services in place. I ask that the departmental officials, in their dealings with the county council and the local domestic abuse services, try to get things moving as quickly as possible to ensure the bricks and mortar are put in place. The Minister is correct that we need services to go with the buildings. However, it is the bricks-and-mortar part that is holding things up at this point.

All the components need to come together at the same time. That work is being done. As I said, it is being driven by Cuan, the new domestic violence agency, with the support of my Department and working closely with the Department of housing. All of these projects are being developed through the capital assistance scheme, CAS. We need to make sure that system, and the structure around it, works. It is also about building capacity. We have been equally focused on building capacity on an ongoing basis. We have been collaborating with Safe Ireland to create a comprehensive suite of documents aimed at guiding the development of refuges. That guidance will serve as a blueprint for establishing safe and supportive environments for those who need them. All of that work is under way.

As I outlined, 18 projects are at different stages of development. One of the biggest challenges, as the Deputy referenced, is in respect of the counties that have no facility. In those counties, there may not be a service that is capable of transitioning into a refuge or accommodation. A different type of service may be delivered there, whether counselling or other supports. We need to be able to introduce a service or expand an existing service. That is why the funding is so important. The increase of €30 million over the past number of years is going directly into the services. We must work with the providers to ensure they can expand and use that funding to deliver more services to the people who need them.

As the Deputy noted, the figures and statistics are startling, stark and harrowing to read. However, we now have a much clearer picture of the situation. In the coming years, as we continue to gather data, we will have an even clearer picture of the real extent of this catastrophic problem. Far too many women, children and men are impacted by domestic and sexual violence. If we have the facts and figures, we will know exactly what we need to do. That is what we are doing in respect of the provision of refuge and accommodation. The Deputy has my commitment that we are working towards a doubling of our refuge and accommodation spaces in the lifetime of the strategy. That work is under way by way of the 18 projects I referenced.

The work will not stop when the current strategy finishes at the end of 2026. Work will continue, I hope, into the next strategy to make sure we deliver even more safe spaces. Work is already under way through Cuan to find a pathway for people out of refuge and accommodation and to provide other forms of support for individuals, most notably support to keep people in their home. It is really important that victims are not forced out of their home. That is a separate strand of work and it is very much under way.