One in four Irish women faced sexual violence with a partner, figures suggest

One in four adult women has experienced sexual violence with a partner, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

This is more than four times the level for men at 6%.

Those who were “White-Irish Traveller/Roma/other white background” were more likely to have reported experiencing sexual violence as an adult with a partner (19%) than those who were “Asian or Asian Irish” (7%).

Just under 30% of women experienced sexual violence as an adult with a non-partner, which was over three times the level for men at 9%.

For sexual violence as an adult with a non-partner, the most prevalent location was in a pub/club/disco for men (30%) and women (26%).

Overall, the majority of perpetrators were male.

More than eight in 10 adults (84%) who experienced sexual violence as an adult with a partner and almost nine in 10 adults (87%) who experienced sexual violence as an adult with a non-partner reported that the perpetrator was male.

The statistics show that 9% of all people who faced sexual violence as an adult suffered the experience within the 12 months prior to the CSO survey.

For those aged 18-24, the rate was more than three times greater at 30%.

More than one in three adults with a third level education reported experiencing sexual violence as an adult, compared with 6% of those with a primary level of education or below.

Bisexual and gay/lesbian people reported higher levels of sexual violence as an adult (55% and 40% respectively) than heterosexual/straight people (25%).