Domestic violence victims put at risk

IF the Government cuts the level of funding for domestic violence services then it must shoulder the blame for putting the lives of women and children at risk, the head of Safe Ireland warned yesterday.

Director of the national network for women’s domestic violence services, Sharon O’Halloran, accused the Government of crippling the organisation.

Ms O’Halloran was speaking at the launch of a study showing that refuges were forced to turn away women suffering at the hands of abusive partners on 1,700 occasions last year.