The Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Jim O’Callaghan, has today announced the allocation of €3.2 million to expand domestic, sexual and gender-based violence services.
The allocation follows a targeted funding call by Cuan, the national agency for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. The funding call targeted key areas:
- expansion of counselling services for adolescent victims/survivors of rape and sexual assault;
- improved access to domestic and sexual violence services for marginalised groups;
- increased capacity to address increasing service volumes across the national helplines;
- training for staff and board members working in DSGBV organisations on a range of topics, from governance to trauma-informed complex care; and
- increased access to perpetrator programmes.
Minister Jim O’Callaghan said:
“The investment provided to Cuan in Budget 2025 to deliver practical, measurable improvements for people who need support was significant.
“The funding allocated through this call ensures service providers can expand key supports for those in need.
“As we work to build a zero tolerance society, it is hoped more people will come forward seeking support, therefore we must ensure we have an appropriate level of service delivery to meet that need. I want to commend the service providers and organisations who have been awarded funding, and I thank them for their dedication and commitment.”
Following a robust assessment of applications, Cuan has allocated the €3.2 million to 67 services.
The funding has been allocated towards the following areas of service expansion and innovation:
- Training and capacity building for boards and staff (over €600,000 awarded to 66 services)
- Counselling services for adolescents (€751k allocated to Sexual Violence Services)
- Targeting services to marginalised groups (€1.1m allocated to 26 services)
- Increasing access to perpetrator programmes (€352k allocated)
- Enhancing access to two national helplines (€266k allocated).
The funding allocation to services will achieve;
- more than 1,100 staff working across 67 DSGBV services will receive additional and improved training;
- an additional 5,484 victim/survivors of DSGBV will benefit from more services/appointments being available; and
- an additional 167 individuals engaging with offender programmes
CEO of Cuan, Dr Stephanie O’Keefe said:
“This allocation of €3.2 million will facilitate a set of creative responses to service need, investing in support services for those most at risk.
“In our day-to-day engagement with funded services we see firsthand the dedication that they bring to their work, and the challenges they face. This open call has sought to support services in meeting these challenges through enhancing training and governance, and expanding their reach in the community.
“The response from services and stakeholders to the open call was huge, and testament to the ambition that we share to build a strong service community.
Cuan looks forward to working closely with the successful service providers on the delivery of enhanced service levels and associated impacts”