‘Cowards beat wives and shame their country’, says Taoiseach

Men who beat their wives are cowards and bring shame on their country, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said.

He was responding to the Labour Leader Brendan Howlin during Leaders’ Questions who raised a new Woman’s Aid report which showed that in 2015, the national domestic abuse service received 16,375 disclosures of domestic abuse against women and 5,966 disclosures of child abuse.

In a powerful contribution, Mr Howlin described in stark terms the nature of abuse suffered by women across Ireland.