The Department of Justice will take charge of the provision of refuge places for victims of domestic abuse, the Cabinet has agreed.
The Government gave the green light to transfer responsibility for this area from the Department of Children.
The Minister for Justice brought details to Cabinet today to begin establishing a new agency to co-ordinate the Government's approach to tackling domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.
A public consultation will get underway soon, ahead of the Government drawing up a new national strategy in this area.
The new agency is likely to take more than a year and a half to establish.
A report by Tusla which examined the levels of refuge spaces for victims of domestic abuse is set to be published later this week.
It recommends the priority provision of over 50 more refuge spaces and identifies shortcomings in the availability of refuge accommodation.
Separately, former politicians, senior civil servants and special advisers will face financial penalties if they do not observe a cooling-off period after leaving office, following a review of the current legislation.
The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath, got Government approval today to finalise the outline of legislation to strengthen the regulation of lobbying.
These proposals, if passed by the Oireachtas, would mean that a failure to comply with the 12 month cooling-off period will, for the first time, be a punishable offence with a monetary penalty.
The penalty could be up to €25,000 and would also include a ban from lobbying activity for up to two years.
It follows controversy over the appointment of former Junior Minister at the Department of Finance Michael D'Arcy to the position of Chief Executive of the Irish Association of Investment Managers.
This happened shortly after he had left office as a Minister of State in 2020.
The new system of sanctions will be administered by the Standards in Public Office Commission.
