Kathleen Funchion urges ring-fenced counselling funding for Carlow Kilkenny
Deputy Kathleen Funchion raised concerns about counselling funding for domestic violence survivors in Carlow Kilkenny, urging ring-fenced support for play therapy and child counselling. She warned current counselling provision is charity-funded and could run out at the end of the year, jeopardising service budgets.
Counselling funding concerns
Amber provides counselling and play therapy to women and children affected by domestic violence in Carlow Kilkenny, but Deputy Funchion said there is no ring-fenced funding for that counselling. She stressed that counselling is a vital part of recovery and that reliance on a voluntary charity leaves the service vulnerable if charitable funding ends.
Local refuge and service coverage
The deputy said the service covers the whole of Carlow and Kilkenny and argued that Carlow should have its own women's refuge so women can stay locally for family reasons. She emphasised travel and schooling pressures when services are not available close to home.
Outreach staffing updates
The minister told the chamber that a recommendation was made to TUSLA to hire additional outreach support workers and that Carlow Kilkenny has already hired one of the additional posts funded from a national allocation of 12. Deputy Funchion reported that a second outreach worker recruitment was finalised very recently, which she welcomed as necessary to service Carlow.
TUSLA negotiations and child support programmes
The minister said she expected TUSLA to consider counselling support in its 2020 negotiations, though her information was that TUSLA had not raised counselling as an ongoing issue. She also noted TUSLA began rolling out the TLC Kids programme in 2019, with facilitator training delivered in March and September and provision to come to Kilkenny in January.
Ongoing concerns about timeliness and capacity
Deputy Funchion cautioned that services invest time in needs analyses but can wait years for additional resources, placing continuity of essential supports such as play therapy and counselling at risk. She urged that the counselling budget and long-term provision for children and adults be secured to prevent disruption of recovery services.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Thanks, Chair. Minister, I know and I appreciate the fact that you visited this service, I think 2017 it was, actually January 2017, if I remember correctly, and it was very much appreciated that you took the time to go down and see the service. It covers a huge area, the whole of Carlow and the whole of Kilkenny. In fact, there's an argument there that Carlow actually should have its own women's refuge. It currently doesn't, and for various reasons, like family reasons, women in Carlow should be able to stay in Carlow. But the question, I suppose, is specific in relation to the counselling budget, because to date, Amber have been running a fantastic, I just can't say enough good things about the service that they run. And a lot of it, obviously, you're not going to come from a domestic violence situation and wake up one morning and everything is okay again. You have to go through a whole process and counselling is a key part of that. And, obviously, for children who have been affected and living in a domestic and abusive situation, they need counselling, which is often in the form of play therapy, and currently that is actually coming from a charitable organisation. There's no ring-fenced, I know they get funding from Tusla, but there's no ring-fenced funding for counselling. Another opportunity, Minister. Thanks, Chair. Okay, thanks very much, Deputy. May I first say, just in terms of the need within Carlow Kilkenny that you've identified as well, one of the precise recommendations that I made to Tusla as being taken up is that for the hiring of some additional outreach support workers by refuges throughout the country. I recommended this because I met with domestic sexual and violence-based services from representatives from around the country and say, especially outside of the main urban settings, what would you recommend? Should the women go to your service or the service go to the women? And they suggested outreach workers. Carlow Kilkenny has already hired an additional one out of the 12 that I've provided money for. And my understanding is that there is, in process, the hiring of a second outreach worker. So I think it's really important to say that there is, there are additional resources going on in relation to that. I'll pause and come back to the other question at the end. Final supplementary, Deputy. Thanks, Minister. I actually was speaking to them today and I think that second outreach worker was, was just finalised only yesterday or today, which is, is good and it is welcome. So, and that is to service Carlow because obviously you have a lot of people who have to travel and schools and it's not an ideal situation. But I suppose part of the reason for the question as well is that services dealing with domestic violence are often asked to do these cost, not cost analysis, they're asked to do like a needs analysis of what they actually need. And they spend a huge amount of time and take it very seriously. And then it seems like two years later, they're still waiting on an answer or waiting on those additional resources. So, in fairness, there was one granted just either I think yesterday or today, which is coincident, but it's good news. But just to say that I'm specific on the council and the play therapy, because it's so valuable and you can't flee a domestic violence situation, you will keep returning to that if you don't have the proper supports and counselling is key to that. And it's just, at the moment, it is a voluntary charity that's providing that for them. And if that runs out, which you will at the end of this year, it puts the whole council in budget and jeopardy. And that's such a vital part of the work that they do. May I say two things in relation to that? The specific issue of counselling is that, thank you for raising it, you've put it on the record, TUSLA's hearing, you know, will be aware of that. Excuse me, and I hope and anticipate that it is part of their negotiations, especially for 2020, to see, you know, is there any more scope for supporting that particular aspect. In fact, though, my information is that they haven't, you know, they haven't raised the issue of counselling and additional resources for counselling on an ongoing basis. That's just my information, but I certainly hear that you are raising that. Secondly, in relation to the children, you know, again, in 2019, this is one of the ways we spent some of the additional money. We, TUSLA began to roll out what's called the TLC Kids Program, where it's a healing program for children in a number of TUSLA areas for children who witnessed domestic violence. A facilitator training to support the rollout was delivered in March and September of 2019. Very high levels of interest and participation. And my understanding is that the actual provision of that is coming to Kilkenny in the early part of the year, in January. The final thing just to say is in terms of the second outreach worker, no, I didn't have that information. I'm very happy to hear that. I think that recruitment process took longer than anticipated, but it's good to know they have two in place. Thank you, Minister. Moving on to... Thank you, Minister.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
