Madam, - The Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mary Coughlan, expressed surprise at the findings of the recent Accord survey as regards domestic violence.
The survey of 1,000 couples and 1,500 individuals found that in the 53 per cent of cases where there was domestic violence, 46 per cent involved mutual violence; in 30 per cent of cases it was perpetrated by women only and in 24 per cent by men only.
The real surprise is that the Minister found these facts to be surprising. Over the past five years the truth has been steadily emerging and the myth that women rarely perpetrated domestic violence has now been thoroughly discredited. The findings of this study reflect those of every other two-sex study in Ireland and abroad. Last year another study carried out for the Marriage and Relationship Counselling Service (MRCS) found that mutual violence accounted for 33 per cent of cases, female-perpetrated violence for 41 per cent, and male-perpetrated violence for 26 per cent.
Ms Coughlan's colleague Micheál Martin will not have been surprised by the report. Almost three years ago he commissioned research to find out what studies tell us about domestic violence. We know that report reflects the findings of the MRCS and Accord studies and also vindicates the consistent position held by Amen since it was set up five years ago. That report has been on the Minister's desk since October 2000 but has still not been released.
In February this year, after 16 months of such consultations, we were told by officials in his Department that it was expected that the report would be released within the next three months. We have now been told that "a peer review" is being sought.
Apart from showing that women are more likely to perpetrate domestic violence both published reports expose the myth, put forward by certain women's groups, that women engage in violent behaviour only in response to men's violence. What is most important now is how public policy will respond to the emerging truth. It is now clearly established, beyond any doubt, that the existing consensus on which domestic violence policy is based is deeply flawed. Persisting with the "violence against women" model to the exclusion of men and men's groups is indefensible. The truth now established demands that current policies and structures be dismantled and that men's experiences and men's organisations be granted "parity of esteem" in formulating new policies and structures to deal with domestic disharmony in an honest, positive and constructive manner.
Those who continue to deny the truth by insisting that domestic violence is a gender issue are inhibiting progress and perpetuating the damage being done to men, women and children. - Yours, etc.,
MARY T. CLEARY,
National Co-ordinator, Amen,
Academy Street,
Navan,
Co Meath.