Plans for new statutory agency on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence

Helen McEntee

At least 50 or 60 new refuge places are needed as a priority, according to the review, with 10 locations identified as priority areas for investment.

The timelines for delivery of these places, as well as further targets for nationwide delivery of refuge accommodation, will be outlined in the government’s third national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and accompanying action plans.

A public consultation on the strategy will be launched tomorrow ahead of its publication in April.

Justice minister Helen McEntee said the new strategy would include proposed new structures for delivering refuge spaces, such as a new statutory agency under the remit of the Department of Justice.

“It is clear that we have a lot to do to achieve our shared goal of zero tolerance of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence,” Mrs McEntee said in a statement today.

“It is also clear that it will undoubtedly be a challenge to meet the needs of our vulnerable women and men who need our help. But it is a challenge I have no doubt that we will meet.

“To do so, we must put in place structures and policies which will protect and support victims for generations, and bring about the societal shift in attitudes that is so desperately needed.

“We must also take action in the near term, and I intend to prioritise a significant number of areas for accommodation need and, in the medium term, there will be further service expansion in other areas.”

A high-level interdepartmental group has been established by the minister to “look at the issue of delivery and how it can be improved”