Lives are being put at risk by Ireland's "critically deficient" provisions for victims of domestic violence, an Oireachtas committee has heard.
The CEO of Safe Ireland warned that women and children are being unnecessarily put at "very real risk of grievous trauma, injury or fatality".
The infrastructure "is completely Dickensian", Mary McDermott said.
"The first line of support must be immediate access to protective services to mitigate risk of further or escalating harm," she told the Justice Committee.
With only 144 refuge spaces available nationwide, there were almost ten times that number of requests for accommodation in six months alone last year.
There are only 31 spaces, in four refuges, to service the entire Dublin area.
Airbnb has donated hotel beds, without which "the outcomes for women and children would have been much bleaker", Ms McDermott added.
Safe Ireland is the co-ordinating body for 38 frontline domestic violence services across the country, most of which operate refuges.
In 2020, one of those services had to turn away more than three quarters of all requests for emergency accommodation.
Scant resources meant Saoirse Domestic Violence Services turned away 369 requests "from women and children fleeing for their lives", its CEO Allison Graham said.
Fine Gael Senator Barry Ward said that the figure was "shocking".
Similarly, Women's Aid had to turn away two thirds of those who requested emergency accommodation.
And then there are those who were not able to reach out.
The lockdown meant many victims "were unable to make a call... as their every move was being monitored", Ms Graham said.
The pandemic experience has been "devastating" for children who were out of school, "living in abuse 24/7, with no escape", she told the committee.
Overall, there were well in excess of 57,000 calls to local and national domestic violence helplines last year.
Almost 24,000 instances of domestic violence were reported to Gardaí.
And protective orders were breached 4,000 times.
Sometimes, these breaches are not treated as seriously as they should be by Gardaí, according to Women's Aid.
Christina Sherlock, Head of Strategic Communications at Women's Aid, said demand for their services rose by more than 40% last year.
She warned this was "just the tip of the iceberg", as the overwhelming majority of victims do not come forward.
Safe Ireland is calling for a single Government department to be tasked with tackling the crisis.
Mary McDermott said the issue of emergency accommodation is being passed "from Billy to Jack" at present.
And "there's no one pot of money" to establish and fund a refuge, Ms Graham agreed.
The charities called for more - and more stable - funding for frontline services and increased capital investment, including for refuges and transitional housing.
Ms McDermott noted that Tusla's 'Audit of Domestic Violence Accommodation' was due for release earlier this year but "has still not been published".
