Gardaí receive almost 100 domestic abuse calls per day

Tue, 21 Sep, 2021 - 21:00

Cormac O’Keeffe, Security Correspondent

Almost 690 domestic abuse incidents have been reported to gardaí every week, on average, this year, official figures show.

A total of nearly 24,700 cases were brought to the attention of gardaí up to September 9, with Dublin accounting for more than a third of cases, at almost 9,000 incidents.

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The three Cork garda divisions reported just over 2,000 incidents.

Of the total number of reported cases, around a third (8,552) were identified, to date, as crimes and around half of these (4,019), so far, have resulted in charges.

The figures on reported domestic abuse show:

8,941 incidents in the Dublin Region – with the largest number in the Dublin Western Division (2,731) and the Dublin Northern Division (2,243);
5,612 in the Eastern Region – with the largest number in the Kildare Division (966) and the Meath Division (896);
5,103 in the Western Region – with the largest number in the Louth Division (1,152) and the Galway Division (1,074);
5,030 in the Southern Division –with the largest number in the Limerick Division (1,202) and the Cork City Division (1,040)

There were 627 cases in Cork North and 354 in Cork West.

The figures were provided by Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Hildegarde Naughton, in response to a parliamentary question from Clare TD Michael McNamara.

The minister of state provided a further set of data on various ‘breaches of order’ incidents and also any crime incident where a recorded motive of ‘domestic abuse’ was reported up to September 9 – with associated charges to date.

They show:

3,188 breach of order incidents, with 2,657 charges to date;
5,364 other crime incidents, with 1,362 charges to date;
8,552 total incidents, with 4,019 charges to date

She said the number of charges would change as investigations are concluded.

Safe Ireland said they could only provide an initial response and would like to see further details from An Garda Síochána on their statistics and data.

Mary McDermott, CEO of Safe Ireland said: “However, from an initial examination, it would seem that the figures - at just under 25,000 incidences of domestic violence reported up to early September 2021 - remain consistently high through this year.”

She said previous Garda statistics showed there was a 16% increase in the number of calls they received to respond to a domestic violence incident last year, in comparison to 2019.

“We are saddened but not shocked by these numbers," Ms McDermott said.

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"They rhyme with what our affiliate domestic violence services have been saying consistently this year. Frontline services remain extremely busy and women continue to report, and are being supported in reporting, more incidences of domestic violence and breaches of orders to An Garda Síochána.”

She said there has been increased movement in the community, giving survivors more freedom to look for help and support. “Overall the response of the Gardaí to domestic violence has been proactive and determined,” she said.