Women should be supported when they seek the help of the legal system in dealing with domestic violence, according to a report on domestic violence and the enforcement of law in Ireland.
Without such support they will not feel safe in making a complaint, or confident in dealing with a system where they are unfamiliar with the language and procedures used, it said.
"Safety and Sanctions", a report drawn up by Ms Patricia Kelleher and Ms Monica O'Connor for Women's Aid, was presented to a conference in Dublin Castle yesterday.
Based on more than 1,000 interviews and a survey of three areas - one a rural area, another one with two large towns and the third Dublin city - the report examined the effectiveness of the civil and criminal justice systems' response to domestic violence in Ireland.
It found that the overwhelming majority - over 90 per cent - of those seeking the help of the legal system in dealing with domestic violence were women.
Reported incidents of domestic violence are much greater in Dublin than in Ireland as a whole. However, the incidents reported outside the capital are likely to be, on average, more serious, with callers twice as likely to have an injury. Arrests, charges and conviction rates are correspondingly higher outside Dublin.
Children were present in the majority of cases where incidents of domestic violence were reported, although again this was more common outside Dublin.
The main legal weapons against domestic violence are barring orders, interim barring orders and safety orders. An interim barring order is often granted while the applicant is awaiting the outcome of a barring order application.
The report found that only about one fifth of interim barring orders translated into barring orders, mainly due to the fact that many women withdraw their applications.
The reasons for this are complex, it found. Some women use the application as a threat to change the behaviour of a partner, others fear an escalation of the violence if they pursue it, and still others fear possible loss of custody of their children and loss of privacy if they push the application in court.
Arrests for those accused of domestic violence, at 27 per cent of those reported, are about twice as high in the Republic as in Northern Ireland or Britain. But this figure rises to 57 and 50 per cent in the rural area and large towns surveyed, compared with 21 per cent in Dublin.
Convictions ran at only 3 per cent in Dublin, of whom 1 per cent were jailed, and 20 per cent outside Dublin, with custodial sentences in 2 per cent of cases in the rural area and 6 per cent in the large towns.