Ireland will double criminal penalties to 10 years for domestic abusers and double the number of refuges under a € 360 million plan to end domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.
Justice Minister Helen McEntee will today bring to Cabinet the third national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence (DSGBV).
The strategy, which promises to have “zero tolerance” for violence against women and domestic abuse, is expected to be published later today.
Under the five-year plan, the state will reform the criminal law to increase sentences for common offenses used by domestic abusers and sexual predators.
The maximum sentence for assault causing damage, which according to the Department of Justice is one of the most common offenses in cases of domestic abuse, will be doubled from five to 10 years.
Ireland will also double the number of refugee abuses for domestic abuse from 141 to at least 280.
It will reportedly involve the creation of refuges in Cork north, central and south, Athlone, Balbriggan, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Sligo, Longford, Cavan and Monaghan.
More shelters will be targeted at provinces that currently have none, while services will be provided by local authorities, or local front-line non-governmental organizations for domestic abuse.
And for the first time, the Department of Housing will provide segregated funding for shelters for domestic abuse.
But even after increasing the number of national refugee spaces by at least 139, by the end of the strategy in 2027, the state will still fall far short of the more than 500 spaces it is required to have under the Istanbul Convention, a European-wide legal instrument committing states to terminate DSGBV.
A study conducted last year found that refugees in Ireland are twice as likely to have to turn a woman away as they are to accommodate her and possibly her children. There are currently no domestic abuse refugees for men in Ireland.
The strategy will also provide for the creation of a state agency by January 2024, devoted exclusively to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. It will be responsible for providing refuge, as well as working with 60 different NGOs that provide front-line rape and domestic abuse services.
It will work closely with the Department of Justice each year before the budget to make the case for funding for frontline services.
Tusla, the children’s and family agency, will no longer be responsible for DSGBV.
The third national strategy contains more than 140 actions. It is a government-wide response to violence against women, which will also include departments such as education, higher education, health, housing, transport, defense and culture.
It is designed to challenge social attitudes that support domestic abuse and gender-based violence.
It will also seek to raise awareness of issues such as domestic abuse, and frontline health care workers will be trained in how to stop victims of domestic violence.