Record numbers of domestic abuse reports are a ‘harrowing reminder’ of the violence in Ireland 

MORE women than ever before contacted Women’s Aid in 2022 and the figures are only the tip of an “enormous iceberg.”

Women’s Aid, a national organisation supporting victims and survivors of domestic violence, has revealed that there was a 16% rise in the number of contacts made with their support service last year. 

The organisation received 31,229 calls in 2022. Calls during which, support workers heard 33,990 disclosures of domestic abuse against women and children. 

The abuse included coercive control, emotional abuse, physical violence, sexual abuse, and economic control. 

According to the organisation’s Feminicide Watch, 12 women died violently last year. And this year, already five women have lost their lives in Ireland.

Women’s Aid’s Annual Impact Report for 2022 points out that the cost of living and housing crises exacerbate the toll on women and families. According to the organisation, the promised reforms in the government’s Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence cannot come quickly enough and must be properly resourced to avoid failure.

The report also stresses that while it is encouraging and important that more women are reaching for support, “every system they are accessing are creaking at the seams.”

Women’s Aid also recorded the names of 12 women who had their lives stolen in violent circumstances.

Chief Executive of Women’s Aid, Sarah Benson, said: “Our Annual Impact Report 2022 is a harrowing reminder of the levels of violence and abuse in homes and relationships in Ireland. While our figures are shocking, we know that they are only the tip of an enormous iceberg.”

“One if four women in Ireland are subjected to domestic abuse. We know that so many women suffer alone, in silence and without specialist support. Behind our figures released today are real women and families whose lives have been devastated by the scourge of male violence. Women who are trying to protect and keep themselves and their children safe in the face of unrelenting pressures”.

Ms Benson continued: “Last year, women told us that their partners or ex-partners were subjecting them to a broad and brutal pattern of abuse. Women reported assaults with weapons; constant surveillance and monitoring; relentless put downs and humiliations; the taking and sharing of intimate images online, complete control over all family finances; sexual assault, rape, and being threatened with theirs or their children’s lives.”

According to Ms Benson, the impacts on these women were chilling and ranged from exhaustion, isolation, and hopelessness; to being brutalised and wounded, suffering miscarriages, poverty, feeling a loss of identity and suicide ideation, hypervigilance and homelessness.

Ms Benson stated: “Aside from the horrific and often long-lasting impacts of domestic abuse, victims/survivors often face many other challenges. The court systems, and in particular, the District courts are under pressure, creating lengthy, protracted, and traumatising delays for women involved in legal proceedings.”

She concluded: “Rapid implementation of legislative change is needed to facilitate real and meaningful actions to support bereaved families and to establish a system of domestic violence death reviews, such as are in place in other jurisdictions, including Northern Ireland. These changes require a whole of Government approach and should not be dispersed across different departments without a coordinated plan. Government must put in place a dedicated and focused vehicle for implementation of the many recommendations in this foundational document - including required legislation - to ensure prompt and successful outcomes.”

You can contact the Women’s Aid 24 hour National Freephone helpline via 1800 341 900 or www.womensaid.ie. And the National Male Advice Line can be contacted via 1800 816 588 or via mensnetwork.ie/mal/