A PUBLIC meeting to discuss the future of Wexford Women’s Refuge will be held in the Gaelic Bar at 8 p.m. tonight (Tuesday) following the shock announcement of the centre’s closure for 13 weeks.
The decision was taken by the Voluntary Board of Management at the centre after the HSE declared it would not sign a Service Level Agreement with them if they could not decrease their over-spend.
So far this year, the Refuge has accrued an over-spend of €67,000, with the figure expected to increase to €100,000 by the end of the year if cuts are not implemented.
As a result of this, staff hours have been cut and the Emergency Accommodation Service has been closed for a period of 13 weeks, starting from September 1 with an Outreach service continuing from Monday to Friday.
But the move has sparked outrage locally and huge disappointment amongst workers in the centre. Refuge Manager Betty Doyle, speaking to The Echo said that the news had come as an “awful and shocking blow.” The centre, she said, had room for four families and was currently full, with three under child protection.
But with the centre’s impending closure she said: “Where do people go now to protect themselves? This is about the women and children who are losing out, we just want to help them.”
Another woman working in the centre, Angela Hore said that the news had come out of the blue but thanked the public for their support which she said had been amazing. She lashed out at the cuts which would see the Refuge forced to shut its doors as and from December 1: “It’s a disgrace to see all of these cuts. It’s going to put women and children’s safety at risk for such a small amount of savings.”
The centre employs eight people who work part-time covering 24 hours, seven days a week. The nearest other refuges are in Bray, Kilkenny and Waterford but it would not be unusual, Ms. Hore said, for these to be full.
“The simple fact is that from September there will be no service available after 5 p.m. If people are traumatised and have no where to go, what will they do now? The people with us at the moment, you can see the trauma on their faces.”
A campaign to reverse the decision to close the refuge has already begun on Facebook with the page ‘Stop the 13 week closure of Wexford Women’s Refuge’ garnering over 1,600 likes in the first three days of its existence. A public meeting takes place in the Gaelic Bar tonight at 8 p.m. to address the closure.
Meanwhile, a special meeting of Wexford Borough Council will be held on Monday to discuss the options available and to call for a reversal of the proposal.
