One of the largest refuges in the country which supports women and children experiencing domestic abuse has said the housing crisis is making it harder for women to leave abusive relationships.
ADAPT in Limerick says it does not have enough space to accommodate women who need the service, and they and their children often return to unsafe homes.
Director of Services with ADAPT, Denise Dunne said women cannot move on safely from a refuge because there is no accommodation for them.
"Before women used to be able to get private rented accommodation but as we all know that market has dried up completely," said Ms Dunne.
She said when it is time for a woman to leave a refuge, ADAPT refers her to the Homeless Service Action Team and usually they are offered hotel accommodation.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
"So, you have women coming into refuge, having to leave their homes, bring their children, and then moving from refuge into hotel accommodation. For some women, the thought of having to do all of that is making them stay in very abusive, very dangerous relationships," she said.
Ms Dunne was speaking at a conference on gender-based violence in Limerick city today, which was organised by Sinn Féin MEP Kathleen Funchion.
She experienced abuse by a former partner who was jailed in April this year, under the Harassment and Harmful Communications Act - also known as Coco’s Law.
Ms Funchion said her office was "literally inundated with calls" from women in similar situations, victims of coercive control who were looking for advice on where to turn for help.
"When I came out publicly and I was nervous about doing that, but the amount of people who contacted my office, particularly people in similar circumstances; people thinking, 'How do I take the first step to get out of this abusive relationship?’"
She said she was glad that people did feel that they could reach out to someone, particularly to someone who understood.
Need for more collaborative work between services
The conference was told that there needs to be more collaborative work between the services, between gardaí and women’s refuges.
One success story is Operation Sábháilte which was set up as a pilot in Henry Street Garda Station.
After recording an increase in calls, gardaí in Limerick approached ADAPT to see how they could better support women who were experiencing domestic violence.
ADAPT works closely with a team of specialist gardaí who identify high-risk victims of domestic abuse and provided intense support to them.
Ms Dunne said it is important that women are believed and supported.
"When you think about it, very often gardaí are the first point of contact when there is a domestic violence incident in the home.
"For the women we support, it makes a huge difference if the garda who arrives on the scene believes the woman, listens to what she has to say and doesn’t dismiss her.
"That is the difference between women going ahead and seeking support."
