Representatives from the domestic abuse service, Lifeline Inishowen, are travelling to the Dail today to submit a petition to a cross-party delegation.
The petition, which has over 2000 signatures, is a final attempt by the group for reinstating funding.
The news comes as the service continues to financially struggle to keep its door, a struggle that has been ongoing over the previous nine years.
We’re en route to the Dáil to demand funding for @LifelineDonegal. Come join us on Kildare Street at 1:15pm today. #Donegal #Inishowen #WakeUpTheGovernment pic.twitter.com/QgVpZNQzUj
— Inishowen Together (@Inish_Together) June 26, 2019
The centre, which helped over 46 women last year with domestic violence cases, has not been sanctioned government funding since 2011 despite the efforts of the centre over the last four years.
Officials from the Tulsa, the Irish family support service, insisted that Donegal Women’s Centre in Letterkenny is suitable to cover the entire county, leaving those in Inishowen as far as 65km from the centre.
The group had hoped that a meeting with Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone could be arranged in an attempt to have funding sanctioned.
Manager of the centre, Mary Doherty said: “Nothing has changed this year despite the ratification of the Istanbul convention, which is a legal instrument that focuses on combating violence against women and domestic violence.
“More services like Lifeline Inishowen should be welcomed and supported in rural Donegal,” she added.
“I do not understand why there cannot be sufficient national level coordination with Lifeline Inishowen, particularly since the outreach was created by the local community itself.”
