At least 20 children are receiving domestic abuse support every week from Fermanagh Women's Aid, a Sinn Féin councillor has revealed.
At Thursday's meeting of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, correspondence from both the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Department for Education (DfE) was discussed, detailing the amount of funding provided to both Fermanagh and Omagh Women's Aid.
Minister of Education Paul Givan said that his department did not provide funding to Fermanagh and Omagh Women's Aid.
Meanwhile, Justice Minister, Naomi Long, said that the organisation received £12,500 of funding from the 'Right to be Safe' project while £6,800 was also provided by the Fermanagh and Omagh Policing and Community Safety Partnership.
Mrs Long also outlined that the Department for Communities provided £73,151 to Fermanagh Women's Aid Refuge and £164,296 to Omagh Women’s Aid Refuge.
A total of £141,465 of "Floating Support" was given to Fermanagh Women’s Aid, Mrs Long added.
Councillor Debbie Coyle described the funding as "disappointing".
"Both letters are disappointing, especially from the Department of Education (DfE)," the councillor said.
"While everything is correct in terms of the funding that has been received, out of the organisations mentioned, as important as they are, not one of the 368 women that were helped by Fermanagh Women's Aid last year was referred from any of those stated organisations.
"They (Women's Aid) do a lot of work where there is no funding; they have a remote evidence centre; they sit on the domestic homicide referrals; they have three days a month times two workers; yet there is no funding given toward that."
Councillor Coyle added that children are also being supported by Fermanagh Women's Aid, which further strengthens the case for funding.
"Referrals were made across the North by the PSNI to schools, and a lot of those children don't meet the threshold of social services," she said.
"The support they get from Fermanagh and Omagh Women's Aid is really vital. There are 20 children per week receiving direct support from Fermanagh Women's Aid, and it is the same in Omagh, with regards to the domestic violence and abuse they are seeing at home."
Councillor Coyle proposed that the Council meet with the interim Chief Executive of Fermanagh Women's Aid, Kerrie Flood.
"Domestic violence is across departmental responsibility. I propose that we could meet with Fermanagh and Omagh Women's Aid, and especially Fermanagh Women's Aid's Kerrie Flood, who would love to come and meet councillors."
This was seconded by UUP councillor, Diana Armstrong.
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