The national network of shelters and support for victims of domestic violence has warned that a new agency dealing with the problem will not become a dumping ground for government departments, reports RTE.
Cuan, the new statutory body on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, will coordinate government strategies to support and oversee the provision of safe and accessible shelters.
It is expected to launch in late January.
However, while it welcomed the creation of the agency, Safe Ireland said the excessive burden would make the agency ineffective and that a whole of government approach was still needed.
“Our hope is that Government departments will not decide to dump everything on the new agency. That would overburden it and make it ineffective”, reports RTE.
Ms McDermott said Safe Ireland would be “keeping a close eye” on Cuan, who she said would have “direct line” with the Prime Minister’s department.
“But other departments must play their part, they can’t dump everything on the agency now and say ‘you’re dealing with everything now for domestic violence’; it’s too huge a problem,” reports RTE.
“If you think about the breadth: it’s adults, children, mental health, housing, welfare, finance, therapy, counselling, it’s huge”, she said, reports RTE.
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