Hundreds turned away from women's refuge in Athlone

Esker House Women’s Refuge in Athlone had to turn away more than 350 people last year due to shortage of space, allied to families staying longer than normal due to a lack of housing in the town.
The refuge accommodated 45 women and 55 children last year and the longest stay was 181 days. The number of women staying there last year increased by 25% on the previous year.
It received 490 helpline crisis calls last year and 417 helpline calls for emergency refuge accommodation for women and children in crisis.
In addition, 166 women and 193 children could not be accommodated as the refuge was full.
The refuge can take four families and up to 16 children at any one time.
The figures were obtained by the Westmeath Independent as it emerged that an outreach worker has recently been appointed to the service.
The new appointment gives staff at Esker House – a refuge and domestic abuse support service which provides temporary accommodation for female victims of domestic abuse and their families - the opportunity to visit women in their homes; these women don't need accommodation but need support.
This is a huge addition to their services which are working to full capacity.
Funding for the outreach worker was provided by Túsla and the post covers Athlone and surrounding areas.
Team leader at Esker House Deirdre Berry said an outreach worker had been requested for more than four years.
“Because we only had the refuge staff we were quite limited. Now we have the outreach worker. We had been looking for this since 2012,” said Ms Berry.
Demand for support from the service is strong, she said, and the housing crisis has impacted on this.
“Demand is as high as ever. The housing crisis has hit us badly. Families should be ready to move on within two to six weeks as it ideally takes up to six weeks for people to get over trauma, but because they have no-where to go, some are staying here for seven months,” she said.
'We are a crisis service. They don't need to be here for more than a couple of weeks.
“It is particularly bad at the moment. Some of our service users are on housing lists,” added Ms Berry.
'Because of the housing crisis women's options are limited. They can't move on as easily.
“It looks like there are less people staying here because women are staying longer,” said Ms Berry.
Families who cannot be catered for due to lack of space are referred to other refuges throughout the country.