The funding boost was awarded at the recent launch of Children: Children’s stories of domestic violence by Fergus Hogan and Máire O’Reilly of the Centre for Social and Family Research at Waterford Institute of Technology.

Many of the children had either recently stayed in a refuge or were living in a refuge at the time of the research.

The aim of the study was to gather narrative accounts from children who have lived with domestic violence and gain insight into what services were most effective.

Cosc, established last June, draws together several agencies to develop strategies for preventing violence, raise awareness of associated issues and work with other bodies to provide support and advice to those affected.

The €21 million in funding was given under the National Development Plan Minister for Children Brendan Smith outlined the importance of cross agency collaboration.

“There are over forty domestic violence refuges and support services in Ireland for women and their children. The provision of refuges is a matter for the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Once established, the HSE provides funding for the running costs of refuges.  All except one refuge are managed by the Non Government Organisation sector.”

The report by WIT highlighted the lack of child-centred services for child victims of domestic violence and noted that existing ones are limited and difficult to access.

Recommended helplines include the HSE on 1850 24 1850  (Monday – Saturday 9am-5pm) and Women’s Aid National Freephone 1800 341 900.

Information on the report is available on www.omc.ie.

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