The incidence of rape, sexual assault and other violent crimes against women is increasing, the Minister of State for Equality, Ms Mary Wallace, has said. Speaking at the launch of an awareness campaign on violence against women, she said the Garda's "frightening statistics" showed that 180 rapes had been reported in 1996, 256 in 1997 and the figure was likely to exceed 300 this year. Nineteen women were murdered in 1996 and 13 last year. In 1997 there was a 33 per cent increase in the numbers charged with and convicted of domestic violence offences.
The new campaign will be co-ordinated by the National Steering Committee on Violence Against Women, chaired by Ms Wallace. The committee aims to provide a single contact phone number to allow women easier access to information and services.
The committee's membership is drawn from five Government departments and six voluntary organisations: the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, Women's Aid, the National Network of Women's Refuges and Support Services, the National Women's Council, the National Network of Rape Crisis Centres and the Irish Countrywomen's Association. It now has eight regional committees, based on health board areas.
The committee will next year receive £5 million for non-capital spending from the Department of Health and Children, a £1 million increase over this year. Ms Wallace would not be drawn on whether she felt this was adequate to deal with the problem of violence against women. Ms Monica O'Connor of Women's Aid said it was "ludicrous" to suggest that it was adequate, but it was "the beginning of the State taking some responsibility" for the problem.
Ms Wallace said the new awareness campaign had a fourfold message: to the victims, that there was help available all over the State; to the perpetrators, that violence against women was a crime and must stop; to the public, not to marginalise victims by condoning such actions against them; and to gardai and other professionals, that victims were entitled to a professional and caring response to what had happened to them.
The chairwoman of the Aobhneas women's refuge in Coolock in Dublin, Ms Terri Morrissey, said the amount being spent should be seen in the context of the cost of running refuges. The Coolock refuge, which caters for 10 women and up to 30 children, cost £400,000 a year to run. "In that context an extra £1 million is a drop in the ocean."