Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2023-02-15
============================================================

Mary Lou McDonald (SF), Dublin Central

The District Court waiting times for domestic violence victims, as published by the Irish Examiner today, paint a shocking picture for victims of domestic abuse and coercive control. Of the eight courts with the longest waiting times, six have no refuge or safe accommodation provision in their counties.
The Government speaks about an epidemic of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence but there is no urgency in its actions. We welcomed the third strategy but publishing a document alone will not prevent abuse or protect victims. We cannot wait for the establishment of the new agency to address the absence of safe accommodation in nine counties. Courts cannot prevent abuse if they do not have judges to hear the domestic violence cases. When will the heads of Bill for the new agency be published? Will safe accommodation be delivered this year for the counties currently without any refuge provision?

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2023-02-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:00:53+00:00
Sitting date: 2023-02-15