SAFE BlogArchive

On Tuesday 5th July the National Crime Council's (NCC), in association with the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), published the first ever large scale study undertaken to give an overview of the nature, extent and impact of domestic abuse against women and men in intimate partner relationships in Ireland. Among the notable findings are :

• 15% of women and 6% of men suffer severe domestic abuse
• 29% of women and 26% of men suffer domestic abuse when severe and minor abuse are combined
• 13% of women and 13% of men suffer physical abuse
• 29% of women (1 in 3) and only 5% of men (1 in 20) report to the Gardai
• 49% of admissions to women's refuges are Travellers (according to the 2002 census Travellers account for just 0.6% of the entire population)
• Of those turned away from refuges, 46% were for reasons other than the refuges being full.

The results relating to gender prevalence broadly reflect the findings of the three other two-sex carried out in this country (for ACCORD; MRCS and the Department of Health).

The MRCS report, based on a survey of 530 clients, found that, where domestic violence occurs, mutual violence accounts for 33% of cases, female perpetrated violence accounts for 41% and male perpetrated violence for 26%.

Similarly, the ACCORD research, based on a survey of 1500 clients, found that women were perpetrators in 30% of domestic violence cases, men were perpetrators in 23% of cases and mutual violence accounted for 48%. An interesting feature of this study, which involved couples attending counseling, was that 84% of women and 74% of men agreed with their partner’s response to this question, suggesting that the self-reported prevalence is quite reliable.

According to the Government Departments (Health and Justice) who have responsibilities in this area, the NCC study is the definitive piece of research on domestic violence in this country. Less than 1% of Government funding for victims of domestic violence is given to provide services for male victims. It is imperative, therefore, that a substantial and immediate increase in funding for services for male victims be one of the Government's top priorities in responding to this research.

The National Crime Council study was based on a survey conducted by the ESRI of a nationally representative statistical sample of over 3000 adult women and men. The report was written by Dr. Dorothy Watson, Senior Researcher with the ESRI and Miss Sara Parsons, Research Officer with the National Crime Council. Mr. Padraic White, Chairman of the National Crime Council, said that “the National Study of Domestic Abuse was a pioneering one for Ireland in many ways – it covered physical, sexual and emotional abuse; it included both women’s and men’s experiences of domestic abuse and it used the most modern techniques to analyse the data. The National Crime Council embarked on this momentous study to get the most accurate possible measures of the hidden crimes that occur behind closed doors and which have a traumatic impact on victims”.

At the launch of the report Minister of State Frank Fahy said “I have no doubt that this report will be of immense value to the various Government Departments and non-Governmental organisations who are working to tackle the issue of domestic violence here in Ireland. One of the most useful resources that can be made available to everyone working in the field is evidence-based research such as this. This makes it possible to plan the best way forward with an awareness of the needs and realities that truly exist”.

Since Amen was set up in 1997, every single two-sex study has vindicated our position that a significant number of men are also victims of domestic abuse. Regardless of which statistics are considered the fact that less than 1% of all State funding for victims of domestic abuse goes to male victims is indefensible and this situation must be rectified immediately.

Contact: Frank McGlynn, National Secretary, Amen, St. Anne’s Resource Centre, Railway Street, Navan, Co. Meath, Ireland.

Tel Nos: 00 353 (0)46 9076864 or 00 353 (0)46 23718
or (mobile) 00 353 (0)87 2888277