“Violence has appeared to move indoors,” Cllr Rena Donaghey warned this week in a call for more services for domestic abuse victims.
Cllr Donaghey, the Cathaoirleach of Donegal County Council, is leading a call for the local authority to contact the Minister for Justice Helen McEntee TD to stress the need for enhanced measures to support victims.
The call asks that “improved services are achieved and that additional refuge places are sought and that suitable policies are put in place, through a coordinated approach, in order for sustainable interventions, to prevent and effectively respond to domestic and sexual violence.”
“Since April 2020 the numbers accessing services has steadily increased,” Cllr Donaghey told the January meeting of county councillors.
“Violence has appeared to move indoors.”
Meanwhile, Cllr Donaghey noted that the Third National Strategy on Domestic Sexual and Gender-based Violence is ongoing. Part of this strategy aims to ensure that all personnel in state agencies who are likely to have to deal with victims of sexual crime should have appropriate training. The strategy will be in place by the end of 2021.
