Room at the inn for women seeking refuge

One of the country’s largest women’s refuges yesterday said it had to turn away only one woman on Christmas Day, but warned that January is usually the month when there is a rush for services.

Viva House in Blanchardstown, Dublin, which is operated by Sonas, was full on Christmas Day, with all eight of its self-contained apartments occupied by women and their children seeking safety from violent domestic situations.

However, a spokeswoman for Viva House said that while typically a number of women would be turned away on any given day, on Christmas Day just one woman was told there was no room.

Viva House covers much of Dublin and surrounding counties, and the spokeswoman said that in many cases women will endure the festive period as they do not want to pull children away from the family home at Christmas time.

However, January is typically a busy month as women look for a way out of the abusive situation they have been living in at home.

That coincided with the view of Women’s Aid, which said it had not yet calculated statistics for calls from its National Helpline over Christmas.

Spokeswoman Christina Sherlock said: “Many women tell us that they are trying to manage the situation so that their children have as positive experience as possible.”

Meanwhile, telephone counselling and support service Connect has said it will extend its hours over Christmas to open every evening until Sunday, Jan 6. The free and confidential telephone-based counselling service is for adults who were abused in childhood. It will now open daily from 6-10pm.

Connect is funded by the HSE and has seen an overall increase in call activity in recent years. It is usually open from Wednesdays to Sundays.

It can be contacted at 1800 477 477 and people based in Britain can call 00800 477 477 77.

* www.connectcounselling.ie