Violence against women and girls main focus of Executive meeting – Nesbitt

Violence against women and girls in Northern Ireland was the main issue discussed by the Executive on Thursday, health minister Mike Nesbitt said.

Mr Nesbitt said he was considering whether a summit could be organised to engage with communities on the issue of domestic violence against women and girls, but warned the problem would not “go away quickly”.

He also said funding was not withdrawn from Women’s Aid, but instead their application was refused; and added that he would prefer if they were receiving funding from his department.

The topic of violence against women and girls has come to the fore after the murder of two women this month as well as the conviction of Stephen McCullagh for the murder of his pregnant partner, Natalie McNally.

A murder investigations is ongoing following the death of Amy Doherty in Londonderry at the weekend, while a man has appeared in court charged with the murder of Ellie Flanagan in Fermanagh earlier this month.

Appearing before the health committee on Thursday, Mr Nesbitt said funding for Women’s Aid had not been cut, but instead they had not qualified for funding.

He was responding to a question from committee chairperson Philip McGuigan, who said the Department of Health cut its funding in 2023 by half and “withdrew completely” core grant funding in 2024.

Mr Nesbitt said: “If you’re referring to core funding, we did not cut this time. We didn’t cut them out.

“We redesigned the scheme two years ago, we redesigned it again for this coming year because it had been around for over 20 years and new charities couldn’t even apply for it.

“So, what happened was, Women’s Aid didn’t meet the criteria to get it and I think that’s a very important distinction between us actively deciding to withdraw their funding and them being unsuccessful in the application.

“I would much rather they were receiving core grant funding from the Department of Health, and that’s why we provide feedback to unsuccessful applicants.”

Asked if he could look to see if more could be done for Women’s Aid, Mr Nesbitt replied: “I will certainly do that.

“But we are talking about governance, and we have to have governance structures about how we distribute the money.”

He added: “I’ve come to you from an Executive meeting that started at 10am and is still ongoing, and I hope I will be forgiven if I’m breaking confidence by saying the substantive discussion this morning was on the violence against women and girls and the two deeply regrettable, tragic murders.”

He said he planned to write to First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly about a proposal to “better” engage with the community.

“I also think it’s probably one of those issues that’s going to be a generational transformation.

“So, what I’m thinking about is not just Women’s Aid, but all the community and voluntary groups that the Department of Health funds.

“So, the ones who are maybe dealing with women’s issues, and particularly with youth, could we pull them all in somewhere… could we just have a summit and say we’ve got to get out and start messaging and really engage the community in what’s going on. It’s not going to go away quickly.”