59,000 CALLS ON DOMESTIC ABUSE
»»Cases increase by 10% in just a year »»Mcentee insists victims the ‘priority’
Gardai proactively responds to domestic abuse
NEARLY 60,000 domestic abuse calls were made to gardai last year, figures have revealed.
Officers responded to 54,000 incidents in 2022 – a 10% rise in the space of 12 months.
The calls received in 2023 include those relating to a range of domestic abuse offences.
These included coercive control, breach of an interim barring order, breach of protection order, breach of barring order, breach of safety order and breach of an emergency barring order.
The figures were released by Justice Minister Helen Mcentee following a parliamentary question from Sinn Fein TD Sorca Clarke.
The Fine Gael TD said 59,625 domestic abuse calls were reported to gardai last year.
The Dail heard last year that in 2022 the incidents of domestic abuse attended by officers increased to 54,000 in 2022, up from 50,000 in 2021 and 44,500 in 2020.
Ms Mcentee said: “I can assure the Deputy that creating a criminal justice system that supports and protects victims at every stage of their journey through it, is and will remain a priority.
“To ensure this is the case, An Garda Siochana and my Department [of Justice] are continuing to work hard to strengthen trust and confidence in the system so that victims will feel
Sorca Clarke confident in coming forward to report what has happened and get justice.
“An Garda Siochana prioritises and proactively responds to incidents of domestic abuse.
“As the Deputy may be aware, there is now a Divisional Protective Services Unit in each Garda Division, meaning specialised teams are in place nationwide to engage with vulnerable victims in these most difficult cases.” Ms Mcentee argued that under the Government’s Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence she had “strengthened” laws to combat domestic violence. She added this included introducing new stand-alone offences of stalking and nonfatal strangulation and doubling to 10 years the maximum sentence for assault causing harm.
When asked by the Irish Mirror last year about an increase in the reporting of domestic violence, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said Ireland was experiencing an “epidemic” of violence against women.
He added: “If you go back 20 or 30 years ago, the system, the courts, even the gardai saw it as an internal issue within a family.
“That’s now totally changed and changed for the better.
“It’s seen as the serious, unacceptable crime that it is.”
Speaking on the same day Equality Minister Roderic O’gorman said women “didn’t feel confident in coming forward to actually raise it with gardai”.