Almost 2,200 children stayed in domestic violence refuges for part of 2016, a 5% increase on 2015, according to the latest figures from Safe Ireland, a national charity working to prevent domestic violence.
While the number of children rose in 2016, there was a 1% drop in the number of women living in shelters.
1,460 women were admitted to refuges in 2016, 11 fewer than 2015.
The ongoing housing crisis means families are unable to find suitable accommodation to move to and as a result are forced to stay in the refuges for longer periods of time.
On top of that a drop in core funding for refuges between 2015 and 2016 and the loss of 10 emergency accommodation spaces has led to a shortage of beds, experts say it’s becoming increasingly difficult for families to get beds in refuges.
Caitriona Gleeson from Safe Ireland said ""Refuges are less able to take in women seeking somewhere safe from partner violence because the women already in refuges have nowhere to move onto because of the housing situation."
Refuges report that soaring rents and a shortage of housing stock is having a devastating impact on vulnerable families, forcing women and children to stay for prolonged periods.
The amount of time families would stay can vary from refuge to refuge with some refuges reporting stays of 6-8 weeks on average. After which families transition into social housing, private rented accommodation or return to the family home, often after a barring order had been secured.
More recently there have been reports of families staying up to a year and a half, which would have been rare in previous times.
Refuges are increasingly seeing women transition from the refuges to B&Bs and hotels, after presenting as homeless to their local authorities.
Fiona Ryan, CEO of Sonas Services, said "some women are staying in extremely abusive situations, out of fears of making their children homeless".
The overall number of family spaces in refuges dropped this year from 147 to 137, after the closure of Rathmines Women’s Refuge in September 2017, due to health and safety issues.
The temporary closure of Rathmines means the loss of beds for 10 women and a similar number of children.
Currently, there are 20 domestic violence refuges in Ireland spread across 17 counties, providing a range of services including counseling and legal advice. Nine counties do not have a dedicated women’s refuge.
While fewer women are being admitted to refuges, numbers show that more women and children are seeking help for domestic abuse.
Figures for 2016 show 10,101 women, 4% more than 2015 were helped by domestic violence service. At 3,685 there was an increase of 9% in the number of children requiring assistance.
According to Caitiona Gleeson these numbers are just the tip of the iceberg, an EU agency found in 2012 that one in four Irish women had experienced domestic violence in their lifetime.
Ms. Gleeson added that the delay in the Domestic Violence legislation which passed through the Seanad in November 2017 is hurting vulnerable families.
"We’re really concerned at the delays in the passage of the Domestic Violence Bill 2016, particularly because of the urgent need to increase protection and the imminent dangers that so many women and children are facing hourly from abusive partners."
"There were really key protections in that bill to keep women safe in the home so there is no need to leave for refuges and disrupt their lives."
Dublin Regional Homeless Executive does not keep records of the number of families presenting as homeless due to domestic abuse and the Central Statistics Office is unable to produce domestic abuse crime statistics due to issues with data from the Garda PULSE system.
Tusla took over providing major funding for domestic violence services in 2014, previously core funding came from the HSE, local authorities, and Cosc, The National Office for the Prevention of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence.
According to figures released last November by the Minister for Women and Children, Catherine Zappone, there was a 1% drop in funding for domestic violence refuges, from Tusla between 2015 and 2016.
The data released after a parliamentary question was lodged by former Sinn Féin Leader Gerry Adams, shows a 3% increase in funding from Tusla for domestic violence shelters between 2016 and the first half of 2017.
Tusla reported it spent €22.7 million in fighting gender-based violence in 2017, but an analysis of their 2016 financial statements show that €12 million was dedicated to domestic abuse refuges.
An analysis of 16 domestic violence shelters financial accounts show that between 2016 and 2015, 10 charities suffered drops in their total income, 5 of which was more than €100,000.
Refuges expressed concern for the welfare of women and children needing emergency shelter saying that more beds are needed to meet demand and to cope with longer stays.
One refuge stated that in previous years they used to be able to meet about half of the requests for a place in the refuge, but because of the housing crisis and longer stays, that has dropped to about a quarter now.
