Minister for Justice must act immediately to increase number of refuge spaces — Kildare councillor

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee must act immediately to increase number of refuge spaces, one Kildare councillor has said.

Social Democrats Cllr Chris Pender echoed sentiments previously expressed by his party's Social Justice Spokesperson Holly Cairns yesterday.

He explained: "In an interview with Morning Ireland this morning, Justice Minister Helen McEntee stated that she is committed to increasing the number of refuge spaces from its pitifully low base of 140 to more than 400.

"While this is welcome, it represents a complete 180 from the government's previous position of vigorously defending the country's low number of refugee spaces as perfectly adequate."

Cllr Chris Pender, Social Democrats

Cllr Pender continued: "Currently, we have less than one-third of the refuge spaces recommended by the Istanbul Convention: nine counties do not have a single refuge space, and because of this blatant lack of space, an average of eight women have been turned away from refuges in Ireland every day.

"Unfortunately, I've had several people who have been turned away from refuge spaces or have had to refuse them due to them being in another county or far from their own family support units," he said.

Cllr Pender added that "every time" his SD colleagues have raised the issue in the Dáil, "the status quo of chronic under-provision of spaces has been defended."

Background

According to the Council of Europe, Ireland is the only known European country which is claiming it only needs to provide the smaller number of refuge spaces.

Mr O’ Gorman made the remarks in response to a parliamentary question from Holly Cairns, the Social Democrats TD.

Ms Cairns said that the current situation represents another instance "whereby the State is abdicating responsibility and outsourcing its responsibilities to NGOs and communities."

She explained: "Addressing domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence will necessitate difficult societal and cultural changes that will take time to implement... increased provision of brick-and-mortar refuge spaces, on the other hand, should be relatively simple."

"For far too long, this government and successive Fine Gael-led governments have failed to address this critical issue, and women and children have suffered: there can be no more excuses for further delay.

"The Minister must state when these additional refuge spaces will be available," she concluded.

If you have been affected by this article, you can find resources to help you by contacting Women's Aid at 1800 341 900, or Men's Aid by calling its helpline at 01 554 3811.

Additionally, you can email Samaritans Ireland at jo@samaritans.ie or ring 116 123, or visit the Rape Crisis Centre at drcc.ie.