Labour seeks more women's refuges

Labour has called for more refuges to house women and children fleeing domestic violence.

The party said the reliance on bed and breakfast accommodation as a response to domestic violence needed to end "as a matter of urgency".

At the publication today of a policy document on violence against women, Labour claimed the Government had been found "seriously wanting" on tackling violence against women - in terms of funding, service development and legislative reform".

The party's justice spokesman, Brendan Howlin, said: "It is no longer good enough for us to be shocked - we must be shocked into action."

He said the first priority was to fund the frontline services such as refuges, national telephone help lines, counselling programmes, and court-accompaniment services.

"It is totally unacceptable that women in every part of the country at any time cannot have access to support, help and counselling," he said, pledging that Labour in Government would address this "dire deficit".

In its document, the party said there needed to be an adequately funded and well-resourced national strategy on violence against women overseen by the National Steering Committee on Violence Against Women and chaired by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

The party said there also needed to be reform of the legal system to address the power and resource inequalities that exist in the criminal justice system between the plaintiff and the defendant in cases of rape and sexual assault.

It called for appropriate training in violence against women for members of the judiciary dealing with violence against women, court staff and the gardaí.

Mr Howlin said: "We have to reform the courts system, learning from best international experience. We need to provide appropriate locations and adequate time for dedicated and experienced judges to deal with domestic violence and cases."