DOMESTIC VIOLENCE REPORT:AN AVERAGE of 15 women and 12 children looked for help from domestic violence services every hour on one day in November last year, a report has found.
A head count of people using domestic violence services was held on November 4th by Safe Ireland, a national network of women’s refuges and support services.
It found that 182 women and 247 children were staying in refuges or transitional housing on that day. A further 186 had received support services from projects on the day.
It found that 11 women and their 16 children were admitted to refuges on that day while lack of space meant six other women could not be accommodated. Some 184 women called domestic violence helplines on that day.
Safe Ireland chairwoman Jacinta Carey said the fact that six women could not be accommodated in refuges on that day was the “most shocking” statistic of all.
An ethnic breakdown shows that 77 per cent of the women accessing services were classified as white, while 9 per cent were classified as Travellers and 8 per cent were black women. Women in the 26-45-year-old age group accounted for 64 per cent of people seeking help while 12 per cent were aged 46-55 years.
Almost 70 per cent of women were Irish, followed by Nigerian (4 per cent) and British (3 per cent).
Safe Ireland conducted a similar census on November 4th, 2008 and while it stressed that it was not accurate to compare one-day census figures, an additional 105 women were accommodated or received support from the services on November 4th, 2009.
Ms Carey said many more women endured domestic violence than those counted on November 4th but were afraid to seek help.
She said there had been a “disturbing and unprecedented” 43 per cent rise in the number of women accessing domestic violence services over the past two years. More than 7,400 women received support from such services last year, compared to 6,111 in 2008 and 5,195 in 2007.
Ms Carey urged that domestic violence services be protected from cuts and said the long-term cost of supporting victims was much greater in terms of services provided by emergency departments, GPs and social services.
The In Just One Day census report was launched by Minister for the Environment John Gormley who described it as “extremely powerful”. He said he was determined that his department’s funding for homeless services, which includes refuges, would not be reduced.
Mr Gormley said funding had increased by 5 per cent last year and “it is my intention that it should remain untouched because this is an area that involves very vulnerable people, the most vulnerable in our society, and I think as a society we have a duty to protect the most vulnerable, despite the economic downturn”.
Safe Ireland’s director Sharon O’Halloran said the only way to end domestic violence was to speak openly about it. “The bolder we are when speaking of this, the greater our belief in openness can become, and the greater our chances will become of success in social change,” she said.
Domestic violence was “one of the most debasing, and still to some extent, hidden and unmentionable crimes” happening all over Ireland, she said.
The one-day census had shown “an astounding number of people” seeking support. “And this is only one day’s fallout from the horrific crime that is domestic violence,” Ms O’Halloran said.
The report is on www.safeireland.ie
A victim's story: "Whatever you do, you have to help me make this right"
“MARY” AND her young son were one of the 11 women and 16 children admitted to a refuge on November 4th last year.
She said she knew the refuge well because she had often stayed there with her mother when her father was violent. She remembered “the pale yellow walls. . . the garden with grass worn in places and toys and the things for the kids to mess with”.
Even though she hated the “hassle and tension” when her father was violent, “it was real hard coming in here, leaving everything again”, she said in her story which is told in the In Just One Day report.
“But then, you knew after a day or two you would be settled . . . and some of the women were real nice.”
When she was pregnant, she said she had made a promise to her unborn son that he would not have a similar childhood.
“I really thought I had picked a good one,” she said of her partner. “I thought I am not going to make a mess of this like Mam and, Jesus, I tell you, he was clever. He had me so around his little finger, so thinking he was a great bloke that I hardly even noticed when things started going bad.”
Looking back now, she said the abuse started before she was pregnant but “it is amazing how you would let them off. . . everyone is allowed a bad day”. Even when he punched her in the stomach while she was pregnant, she still thought she could make it right.
Going to the refuge was the right decision for her son’s future, she said. She remembered saying to the woman who admitted her to the refuge, “whatever you do, you have to help me make this right. I told her straight up, I can’t live with this, and this little fella – I had him just sitting wobbling on my knee – if it’s the last thing I do, he isn’t going to live with it either.”
Six months later, she is continuing to receive support from domestic violence services.
ALISON HEALY
