Domestic Violence Agency

Establishment & Objects

The primary aims of the Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Agency Act 2023 are

• to provide for the establishment and functions of a body to be known as An Ghníomhaireacht um Fhoréigean Baile, Gnéasach agus Inscnebhunaithe (referred to in the Act as “the Agency”);
• to provide for the transfer of certain functions, staff, rights and liabilities and records of the Child and Family Agency to the new Agency, and for those purposes to amend the Child and Family Agency Act 2013;
• to amend the National Archives Act 1986; and
• to provide for related matters.

The policy object of the Act is to establish, in line with commitments in the Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (DSGBV), a dedicated statutory agency with the following key functions:

• to support and oversee the delivery of refuge accommodation for DSGBV victims;
• to fund the provision of services for victims and persons at risk of DSGBV;
• to coordinate and monitor the implementation of relevant government strategies and plans;
• to deliver campaigns aimed at raising awareness of DSGBV and reducing its prevalence; and
• to carry out research to support the evaluation of relevant policies, strategies and services.

The Agency is established under the aegis of the Minister for Justice. Its statutory name will be An Ghníomhaireacht um Fhoréigean Baile, Gnéasach agus Inscnebhunaithe (which translates as ‘the Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Agency’ in the English language).

Functions

The general functions of the Agency are to include:

• Planning, coordinating and monitoring the development of refuge accommodation;
• Providing support, including financial assistance, to service providers for the provision of relevant services and programmes;

• Setting standards (for the approval of the Minister) for the delivery of funded services and programmes, and monitoring adherence to same;
• Co-ordinating, overseeing and supporting the delivery of relevant Government strategies and plans;
• Delivering public campaigns for the purpose of raising awareness of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and reducing its occurrence in society;
• Compiling and publishing information on relevant services and supports, including refuges;
• Conducting or commissioning research and analysis to support the evaluation of relevant policies, strategies and services.

The Minister may by order, confer related functions on the Agency.

Governance

The Agency shall act through, and its functions shall be performed in its name by the chief executive. There is a non-executive Board to be appointed by the Minister from among people with experience/expertise relating to domestic, sexual or gender-based violence, in management or governance, or in other matters relevant to the functions of the Agency. The Board will have a chairperson and 6 ordinary members.

The functions of the Board include providing strategic direction to the Agency, overseeing and appraising the implementation of the Agency’s corporate plan and annual business plan, promoting high standards of corporate governance, and providing policy advice or recommendations to the Minister.

The Minister shall appoint as the chief executive of the Agency a person recruited in accordance with the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004 and the Civil Service Regulation Acts 1956 to 2005. Provision is made that, other than in the case of the first such appointment, the Minister shall consult with the Board prior to appointing a person to be the chief executive.

The functions of the chief executive are to include managing and controlling the staff and business of the Agency and providing the Board, the Minister and the accounting officer with such information as they require. The chief executive shall be responsible to the Minister for the performance of his or her functions and for the implementation of the Agency’s corporate plan and annual business plan.

The chief executive may delegate the performance of any function of the Agency to any member of staff whom the chief executive authorised for that purpose. The chief executive may consult and seek the guidance of the Board on any matter relating to the performance of a function of the Agency, and that he or she should do so when preparing the corporate plan.

The Agency’s staff shall be provided by the Minister, shall be civil servants of the government and shall perform their functions under the direction and control of the chief executive. Provision is also made for secondments to the Agency from other bodies.

Tusla Functions Transferred

The 2023 Act provides for the transfer of certain employees of the Child and Family Agency to the new Agency. Such persons as may be designated in writing by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth shall transfer to the Agency and shall be designated by the Minister for Justice as civil servants of the Government.

In each case the relevant Minister shall consult beforehand with the relevant trade unions or staff associations. Provision is made to protect the terms and conditions of service, tenure, remuneration and superannuation of transferring staff.

Accountability

The Act provides for the preparation by the chief executive, on behalf of the Agency, of a multi-annual corporate plan and annual business plan, annual reports and accounts, other reports to the Minister, and related matters. It also provides for the appearance of the chief executive before the Committee of Public Accounts and other Oireachtas committees.

The Minister may give directions to the Agency on any relevant matter and may issue policy directives with which the Agency must comply.s The Act ets out the terms under which the Agency may enter into a funding arrangement with a service provider, and obliges funded providers to give the Agency specific financial information and such other relevant information as the Agency may require.

The chief executive shall, every 3 years, prepare a corporate plan for the Agency and submit it to the Minister for approval with or without amendment. There are specified key matters to be addressed in the plan and the factors to which the chief executive should have regard in preparing it, including the outcome of obligatory consultations with the Minister, the Board and other relevant people.

Plans & Reports

There are provisions for the laying and publication of the corporate plan. The chief executive shall provide the Minister with reports on the implementation of the plan, as part of the Agency’s annual report and in such other manner as the Minister may direct. The chief executive shall, having consulted with the Board, annually prepare and submit to the Minister a business plan for the Agency.

Provision is made that the chief executive shall implement the plan as submitted unless the Minister, within 28 days, directs its amendment on specified grounds. The chief executive is required to provide the Minister with reports on the implementation of the plan, as part of the Agency’s annual report and at such other intervals as the inister may direct.

The CEO is to prepare the Agency’s annual report, for submission to the Minister following adoption by the Board. Provision is also made that the Minister should cause the report to be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas and that the chief executive shall arrange for publication of the report as laid. The CEO shall prepare annual accounts for the Agency and submit these to the Comptroller and Auditor General for audit.

Provision is also made that a copy of the audited accounts and of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report on same shall subsequently be presented to the Minister and the Board, and that the Minister shall cause a copy of the accounts and report to be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas.

The CEO is required to appear before the Committee of Public Accounts and other Oireachtas Committees where so requested.

Directions

The Minister may give directions to the Agency on any relevant matter and that the Agency shall comply with the direction. It also provides that the Minister may issue general directives as to policy, with which the Agency shall comply.

The CEO shall, as and when requested by the Minister, provide reports to the Minister on any matter relating to the performance of the Agency’s functions. The chief executive shall also keep the Minister informed of significant developments relating to the Agency, including any matter likely to give rise to substantial public concern or any matter relevant to the Government’s accountability to the Oireachtas.

Service Providers

The Agency may enter into funding arrangements with providers of relevant services and programmes and set out the accountability obligations of such funded providers. Provision is also made that a provider in receipt of funding from the Agency shall submit audited accounts to the Agency. The Agency may exempt from this obligation a provider who, in the financial year concerned, has received from the Agency an amount of funding below such threshold as may be determined by the Minister from time to time. The provision is also made that the Agency may (having consulted with the Board, and subject to any relevant policy directive or direction from the Minister) make such other arrangements as it considers appropriate to monitor the expenditure of funded providers.

The Agency may request from a funded provider such information as the Agency considers necessary for the performance of its functions, and that the provider must comply with such a request. Provision is also made that, where requested, the Agency shall supply the Minister with any information obtained from a provider.

The Minister may by order designate a relevant body as a public service body for the purposes of the Act, with the consent of the Minister with responsibility for the body concerned.

A public service body shall, when requested, cooperate with the Agency for the purpose of the performance of the Agency’s functions and cooperate with another public service body for the purpose of increasing awareness of domestic, sexual or gender-based violence or helping victims and people, at risk of such violence. ‘Cooperation’ is defined as including the sharing of documents and information (including statistical information).