THE Fianna Fáil/Pegressive Democrat coalition has presided over many a fiasco, but its treatment of victims of sexual assault and violence is particularly shameful.

The plight of the National Domestic Violence Intervention Agency (NDVIA), which is faced with closure tomorrow because of lack of funds, is symptomatic of the chauvinistic attitude of the present Government towards violence against women.

GARDAÍ are ignoring calls to help lift the veil of secrecy surrounding domestic violence by no longer keeping comprehensive records on the issue.

VIOLENT partners are escaping punishment while their victims are left to suffer in a society doing its best to ignore them.

The series on domestic violence beginning in today’s Irish Examiner presents a harrowing picture of violence, frustration, incompetence, indifference and appalling political neglect.