End violence against women, marchers demand

Hundreds of protesters waving giant handprints marched on the Dáil this evening to call a halt to violence against women.

Supporters of Amnesty Ireland, Women’s Aid, women’s groups from around the country and members of unions SIPTU and Amicus took part in the demonstration to mark International Women’s Day.

Led by campaigners holding white Amnesty International candles, the marchers carried banners covered in hundreds more colourful handprints.

The 40 banners formed part of a petition by 5,000 people handed to Minister of State at the Department of Justice Frank Fahey earlier today.

When they reached Leinster House the protesters chanted “Stop violence against women” as the slogan and a huge image of a hand were projected on to the National Museum.

The campaigners are calling for increased funding and support for voluntary domestic and sexual violence support services, which they say are underfunded and oversubscribed.

Amnesty also wants a review of the justice system to ensure violence against women is effectively dealt with, as well as specialist training about gender-based violence for members of the judiciary and other personnel dealing with the issue.

Jim Loughran, campaigns and research manager for Amnesty Ireland said: “One in five women suffers violence.

“We can pretend it doesn’t really happen or we can do something about it.

“This is a human rights issue and we should be able to move beyond men versus women because we’re all human beings.”

Mr Loughran said that the worldwide campaign was drawing attention to the fundamental abuse of human rights which violence against women entailed.

Women’s Aid, which runs a national freephone helpline for women suffering domestic abuse in Ireland, has seen an increase in calls since the Department of Justice ran a TV awareness campaign for the service.

Rachel Mullen, policy co-ordinator for the agency, said at the march today that they would like to see a long-term awareness campaign.

“The demand on our service is increasing but the Department of Health is still not funding us appropriately,” she added.

“A multi-agency response at ground level is really important, including the legal system, the health service and other agencies.”

Among the protesters was Rosie Wilson, 66, from Dublin who said she had joined the march because the campaign was very worthwhile.

“It’s a big issue in every country,” she said.

“In some countries it’s very conspicuous and in other countries it’s kept silent as far as possible.

“It affects a lot of people and it needs to be voiced.”

Ms Wilson added that it was nice to see so many men joining the women on the march.

Luca D’Alfonso, 25, from Tuscany, Italy, said he had become involved in the campaign after working for Amnesty and finding out what was happening in Ireland and around the world.

“I think more people should be aware of what is happening, because there are such an amount of problems that nobody speaks about,” he said.

Noirin Greene, regional officer for the Ireland region of Amicus, said the international union felt it was important to support the campaign to stop violence against women right across the world.