I am speaking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, who is at the Cabinet meeting. One of the overarching goals of Zero Tolerance: Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence, is to ensure that everyone who needs a refuge space will get one. The strategy, which was published in June 2022, included a commitment to doubling the number of refuge units throughout the country. This represents the fastest ever expansion of refuge accommodation in this country. Cuan, the domestic, sexual and gender-based violence agency, was established at the beginning of last year and is working in partnership with local front-line services providers, local authorities, the Department of housing and the Housing Agency to streamline processes in order to accelerate the delivery of refuges. There were 147 refuge units across the country at the end of 2023, with 12 new units delivered in 2024, including the state-of-the-art refuge in Wexford. This year a further 54 units are set to be under construction or due for refurbishment. This will bring the total units, including those under construction, to 213 at the end of 2025. A key priority for the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, and Cuan is the development of a domestic violence refuge in the Cavan-Monaghan region. Cavan-Monaghan is identified as a phase 1 priority for refuge development under the zero tolerance strategy. Cuan is working with the key stakeholders, including Safe Ireland, the Department of housing, Cavan and Monaghan county councils and the Housing Agency, to progress the development of an eight-unit refuge in this region. This will include community-facing ancillary support services. Cuan has worked with Safe Ireland to fund and resource a project manager post and a change manager post, in addition to supporting the organisation to form the local partnership needed to drive the project. Last year, a site selection process for the building of a domestic violence refuge in the Cavan-Monaghan area was started, marking a key step in the delivery of a new domestic violence refuge in the region. In addition to identifying suitable locations for refuge development, the process will focus on identifying potential locations for safe home development, reflecting the strong commitment from all partners to protecting survivors, preventing further victimisation and ensuring they have the stability to rebuild their lives. I am aware that the Castleblaney area of Monaghan is supported by a number of Cuan’s funded services, including the national 24-hour domestic violence helpline operated by Women’s Aid. Outreach supports are provided to the Castleblaney area by Tearmann Domestic Abuse Service, now operating as Safe Ireland Cavan-Monaghan. The TLC Kidz recovery programme is delivered by Barnardos, which supports children recovering from their experience of domestic violence. Emergency refuge accommodation services are available in Dundalk, County Louth.

Sentiment score: 0.02

As I noted earlier, the Minister is at a Cabinet meeting. That is why he cannot be here and it is only fair to put that on the record. A key overarching goal for the zero tolerance strategy is to ensure every woman and child who needs a refuge space gets one and the Government continues to work towards that. In the most recent budget, domestic, sexual and gender-based violence funding was increased to €70 million. This is more than treble what was available at the start of the previous Government's term and is a further significant increase for this year. The increased funding for Cuan to almost €67 million includes additional funding for refuge spaces. The review of the provision of accommodation for victims of domestic violence published by Tusla in February 2022 highlights that almost three quarters of the population of the State is within 30 minutes of a refuge location. Cuan is acutely aware of the need to improve on this and ensure services are accessible to everybody, including those living in rural areas and in Cavan and Monaghan. Achieving this, including through the completion of a national services development plan, is a core objective of Cuan's plan for 2025 to 2027, which was published at the end of last year. Alongside refuges, a further 20 safe homes are in the pipeline for development. Once complete, they will bring the national total to 72.

Sentiment score: 0.14

I thank the Deputy for the good wishes. I apologise that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, cannot be here this morning. He is attending the Cabinet meeting. The Government Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030 seeks to improve road safety in Ireland and make our roads safer for all road users. The strategy is based on vision zero, which is an aspiration to have zero deaths or serious injuries by 2050 and it has been adopted across the European Union. The introduction of more consistent and appropriate speed limits will help to improve road safety in Ireland in pursuit of this objective. In September 2023, the Department of Transport published a speed limit review which made key recommendations, including that the default speed limit on national secondary roads should be reduced from 100 km/h to 80 km hour, on local roads from 80 km/h to 60 km/hand on roads in built-up areas from 50 km/h to 30 km/h. We legislated for these changes in the Road Traffic Act 2024, which was voted on in the Dáil and signed into law in April last year. The Deputy will recall that national legislation sets default speed limits for different classes of roads but devolves responsibility for setting the individual speed limit on any given road to local authorities within parameters defined in the legislation. Local authorities can leave speed limits at the default or apply different limits through what are called special speed limit by-laws. This is quite right, because local authorities are best placed to assess the characteristics of each road and apply the appropriate limits in light of safety and traffic management considerations. The setting of special speed limits by local authorities must be carried out in accordance with the statutory guidelines for setting and managing speed limits in Ireland. Implementing the changes called for by the legislation and review requires local authorities to assess the roads in each of the three classes affected and to consider whether the default or another limit might be appropriate. It is a big task and, therefore, the implementation of the changes is being undertaken in phases, with local roads being addressed first. The Department has worked closely with the local authorities on this first implementation phase and has issued new guidelines to help them in the process. In light of the complexity of the work, the Department agreed that the new local default limit, originally intended to come into effect last November, would come into effect on 7 February 2025. I understand the Deputy is also concerned about the question of developments along national secondary roads. Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TIl, and the local authorities engage on the setting of speed limits on national secondary roads, with TII having the final say. I expect that the Deputy and his constituents will consider what the relationship will be between new developments and possible speed limits, particularly on the N71. We can all imagine scenarios where a new development beside a road will lead to a significant increase in traffic and would have an impact on what is the appropriate speed limit. I assure the Deputy that in these cases TII and the local authorities engage closely to ensure the proposed speed limit alterations are appropriate. Formal requests for consent for the making of a special speed limit by-law involve a public consultation phase and are processed by TII on an ongoing basis. Speed limits are designed to be appropriate to current road requirements, including traffic levels, and can be changed when the requirements change. Local authorities can change the speed limits to fit new developments. Speed limits which currently exist do not act as a barrier to future development. The timeline for the implementation of phases two and three of the speed limit changes on national secondary roads and roads in urban cores will be informed by the roll-out of the local rural road speed limit change and will take cognisance of the reaction, behavioural response and quantified impacts on metrics such as collisions. I encourage the Deputy to stay in touch with his local authority and councillors, as I am sure he does, about queries on specific roads and the implementation of safer default speed limits as the Minister does not have any power to intervene on the decisions local authorities make on this issue.

Sentiment score: 0.30

I reiterate that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien is at the Cabinet meeting so he cannot be here. He would like to be here. In my previous remarks, I outlined the roles of TII and the local authorities, which are significant in all this. It is important that people work with TII and the local authorities on this. The Department is already doing so. It is important that we provide speed limits that will improve safety for all road users and that is what is happening. The Government is confident that the new limits will help to reduce the number of deaths on our roads, which grew alarmingly after the pandemic. That is a fact. While there was a slight decrease in the number of lives lost on our roads in 2024 in comparison with 2023, it is vital we continue to build on that and do our part to ensure fewer lives are lost this year. If we are to reach our goal of vision zero by 2050, which is also a European objective, all road users must come together and drive safely. It is our duty as citizens to take responsibility for our actions and reduce the chance of death or serious injury. Every death has a devastating effect on families and communities and we must minimise the chance of them occurring. The Department of Transport, along with Cork County Council in the case of the Deputy's constituency, will review the roll-out of phase 1 of the safer default speed limits, prior to implementing phases 2 and 3. This iterative approach will allow us to learn from each implementation phase, helping to deliver a smooth and measured approach to the other phases. This was all legislated for in Dáil Éireann. The whole system was passed by the Dáil in the Road Traffic Act 2024. The Minister for Transport has asked us to thank his officials, the local authorities, the Road Safety Authority, members of An Garda Síochána and other key stakeholders who all worked hard to deliver the recent changes on local roads and thereby increase safety for road users. The Government is committed to ensuring that we deliver a multifaceted approach to reducing road fatalities and serious injuries on the path to vision zero.

Sentiment score: 0.16