Care urged in setting up refuge

The head of an organisation that hopes to prevent domestic violence has warned a refuge is just one part of the response to the issue, writes Eddie Butler.

There have been long and vocal campaigns for a domestic violence refuge to be opened in the region as Cavan and Monaghan are some of the only parts of the country without one.

A Tusla report published in February recommended eight dedicated refuge spaces be provided locally. As it stands spaces are found on a case-by-case basis, often in hotels or B&Bs.

Speaking before the Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality recently, CEO of Safe Ireland Mary McDermott said the provision of a refuge is just part of the solution: “Refuge is not the answer to domestic violence. That is the simple starting point.

“However, making that point is like saying that field hospitals are not needed in a war. We need refuges and we will probably always need them.”

She continued, saying there needs to be “better and stronger responses to domestic and sexual violence in the country”.

Ms McDermott was responding to a question from local TD Niamh Smyth (FF) who asked what mistakes should be avoided in the setting up of services in Cavan.

“I ask Ms McDermott to outline explicitly what Safe Ireland does not want to see, so that we do not make mistakes when we are at the infancy stage of trying to create the right system. I do not want to see those mistakes happen in Cavan-Monaghan anyway.”