Key domestic violence strategy in doubt after departments rule out funding it

Dr Niall Muldoon said: "The budget allocated to the Ombudsman for Children’s Office for 2024 was to enable us to continue our current work in promoting the rights and welfare of children in Ireland. It does not allow for any new developments. Photo: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

A key provision in the government's new strategy for tackling domestic violence may not be delivered after the Department of Children appeared to join the Department of Justice in ruling out funding for it.

It was revealed last week that the Ombudsman for Children's Office (OCO) had written to Justice Minister Helen McEntee "reluctantly" asking that his office be removed from the Zero Tolerance strategy, launched last year, amid claims that funding for a specific child-proofing aspect of the strategy was not forthcoming.

In this original statement the Children's Ombudsman, Dr Niall Muldoon, said it was first approached by the Department of Justice in 2021 to provide independent children’s rights advice on the Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (DSGBV) strategy and to the new agency.

According to a new statement from the OCO, existing resources will not cover the role.

Dr Niall Muldoon said: "The budget allocated to the Ombudsman for Children’s Office for 2024 was to enable us to continue our current work in promoting the rights and welfare of children in Ireland. It does not allow for any new developments.

"The oversight role for the DSGBV Strategy as proposed by the Department of Justice was a new role for the office with an associated workload. No matter how much we would like to take on this role, it simply cannot be done within our existing resources. 

"The DSGBV strategy is extremely positive and I very much welcome the visibility of children who are impacted by domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence. However, as it stands there is no independent oversight in place for children which is not in their best interests.

"It is regrettable that after almost three years of engagement with the Department of Justice and the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth that I have had to request for the OCO to be removed from the Action Plan because the required funding for children cannot be found.” 

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Dr Muldoon said the Department of Justice had initially outlined an independent monitoring role in the implementation of the strategy in relation to children. But according to the OCO, "despite strenuous efforts by the OCO and indeed, by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, over the course of two budget cycles the required resources have not been forthcoming from the Department of Justice."

That prompted the letter to Minister McEntee last October, asking that the OCO be removed from the DSGBV Action Plan due to the failure of the department to follow through on the promised resources.

The Department of Justice denied that it had failed to even respond to the OCO's letter, with a spokesperson suggesting that funding for any such role would have to come from the Department of Children which funds the OCO.

Now that department has indicated it cannot fund the brief either.

A spokesperson for the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth said: "The Department has to make difficult choices in its budgetary allocation each year as there are so many areas that require funding. These include many areas which the Ombudsman for Children has highlighted require adequate funding so that that children and vulnerable people get access to the services that they require."