Fears of domestic abuse spike: 'People are anxious about another lockdown'

Julie Connelly, manager, (right) and Gosia Waldowska, outreach oifficer, Cork Volunteer Centre, sorting donations for CRiTiCALL Cork at Cork Volunteer Centre, North Main St., Cork. Picture Denis Minihane.

Toys, tissues, and tampons were some of the much-needed items donated to people trapped in or escaping abusive homes in Cork as concerns increase that a stricter lockdown could put more pressure on struggling families and services.

Julie Connelly of the Cork Volunteer Centre, which is running the new CRiTiCALL project with domestic abuse charity Safe Ireland to get critical items to abuse survivors, said the response so far has been "amazing."