NDVIA closure - Vulnerable women will bear the cost

The plight of the National Domestic Violence Intervention Agency (NDVIA), which is faced with closure tomorrow because of lack of funds, is symptomatic of the chauvinistic attitude of the present Government towards violence against women.

It needed a niggardly €3 million to remain open, but left empty-handed after a meeting with officials of the Department of Justice yesterday.

For the last decade the issues of rape, domestic violence and sexual violence against women have been acknowledged by the coalition of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats by what it has overwhelmingly failed to achieve.