SINN Féin senator Joanne Collins raised an issue in the Seanad relating to domestic abuse that she considers “a policy flaw”.
She called for an alleged “discrepancy” to be dealt with at ministerial level, urging for housing waiting times for those forced to leave their Council houses after incidents of domestic abuse to be completely taken out of legislation.
“Many of us have advocated for victims of domestic abuse,” she said. “At the moment, if a male or the female victim of domestic abuse is living in a Council house and they have to leave for their own safety, the years they have had in that Council house are wiped clean. They no longer have those years, and they also have to wait 12 weeks to get back on the housing list to receive HAP payments and supports, putting them at a disadvantage,” Senator Collins told the Upper House.
The County Limerick politician deemed this a “small little flaw” in the system that does not fall into the black or white. Instead, she said, it is a grey area that does not seem to be taken into account.
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“For their own safety they have to leave that house, and they seem to be punished for that reason of having to leave. They have to wait 12 weeks. 12 weeks is a long time for somebody who suffers domestic abuse at the hands of another,” she said.
“It seems to be another hurdle they have to jump through. I would appreciate if the Leader could take this to the minister with responsibility for this to see if there is something that can be done about this policy so that 12-week wait is not going to be the case going forward, and that we can have that, not minimised, but completely taken out,” Senator Collins concluded.