The government is planning to set up a new agency to oversee the response to sexual, domestic and gender-based violence.
It'll offer support, co-ordinate the delivery of services to victims and ensure government departments are working together.
Allison Graham is CEO of Saoirse - which runs a number of refuges - and says there's a lack of spaces across the country:
"Demand for refuge even pre-COVID was far exceeding supply. But I suppose the pandemic really increased that. We've been open 15 years and on average we turn away about 70% of the request for refuge because we just don't have space. That experience is very similar across the country."
