Offaly welcome for increased funding for domestic violence services
Offaly’s Minister of State Pippa Hackett and Edenderry Councillor, Mark Hackett have issued a joint welcome of additional funding for domestic violence services for 2024.
They were commenting after Minister for Justice Helen McEntee announced details of additional funding for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence (DSGBV) services for 2024.
Some €3.8m will made available through a targeted call to established DSGBV organisations operating services and supports specifically focused on victims and survivors of DSGBV. The funding will be administered by the new DSGBV Agency to be established in January 2024 supported by Tusla in the interim period.
Minister Hackett said: “Sadly, domestic and sexual violence is still with us in Offaly. Offaly Domestic Violence Support Service, ODVSS, supported 283 individual service users in 2022 and I understand this includes cases of extreme violence and coercion. I welcome the Government commitment to additional funding for established service providers in 2024 and in particular the emphasis on services in rural areas.”
Cllr Mark Hackett said: “This month I am bringing a motion to Offaly County Council in support of progressing a refuge for the county. This call came from ODVSS and I am very happy to support it. At the moment, people at risk in Offaly are forced to leave the county to access a refuge and I understand that this can put people off and increase the risk they are under. We know this Government is committed to increasing refuge provision and I am asking our council to row in behind this commitment to make a refuge happen in Offaly as soon as possible.”
Minister Hackett added: “We are approaching the annual 16 Days of Action Against Violence Against Women campaign which is an important opportunity to raise awareness at both a national and local level to end violence against women and girls. Potentially, there is a person in our family, our work-place, school, college or community who is at immediate risk and I encourage every person to inform themselves. We need to know what services are available but also how to react if someone discloses abuse to us.”
Minister McEntee said,
It is my intention that every person who needs a refuge space will have access to one, and this extra €7.9m will be used to maintain existing services, to address existing acute demand, and for the enhancement and development of new services.
“This record level of funding will also support the implementation of Zero Tolerance, our Third National Strategy on DSGBV, which I launched last year.”
DSGBV organisations currently funded through Tusla will be invited to submit requirements or proposals for additional funding in a number of areas including for €2.5m available to address acute sustainability and service demand pressures, and to support organisations to ensure greater coverage in rural areas and for children’s support services; and €1.3m available for sexual violence services to meet the needs of younger people and to address geographical gaps in provision
Approximately €2.5m for safe accommodation will be focused on the priority sites identified under the Third National Strategy with a significant portion allocated to the staffing of new refuges.