Call for action as violence against women at 'crisis levels'

The IHREC said the Government should implement a multi-agency domestic homicide review.

The Government must urgently review its policy on domestic homicide as violence against women has “reached crisis levels in Ireland”, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) has said. 

The commission has called for action after an “alarming rise in the number of women killed in Ireland” last year.

Violence against women reached record numbers in 2022, with the highest number of violent deaths since 2007.

In 2022, 11 women died violently and two more have been killed so far in 2023.

The commission has urged the Government to extend the proposed five days' paid leave from the workplace for victims of domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence to 10 days per rolling 12-month period “in line with best international practice”.

The IHREC said the Government should implement a multi-agency domestic homicide review and it criticised the lack of legislative progress in this area despite a commitment to do so in the Programme for Government.

“It is imperative that this legislation is progressed without delay, and that it draws on international best practice,” the commission said. 

Concerns were expressed that levels of domestic abuse were understated in the Central Statistics Office.

The IHREC wants the rollout of a national campaign to highlight specific forms of violence against disabled women and violence by caregivers in residential institutions which, it said, should be recognised as domestic violence.

“Violence against women has reached crisis levels in Ireland," said chief commissioner Sinéad Gibney.
The State is obliged to do everything in its power to keep women and girls safe, in our communities and in our homes. This means a zero-tolerance culture toward all forms of men’s violence against women, ranging from verbal abuse to domestic homicide.

The IHREC has submitted 124 recommendations to Government in advance of an evaluation visit from the Group of Experts on Action Against Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Grevio) at the end of the month.

Chief commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Sinéad Gibney said 'violence against women has reached crisis levels in Ireland'. Picture: Paul Sharp

Last week, the National Women’s Council urged the Government to “tackle the root causes of this epidemic” of violence against women. 

Noeline Blackwell of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre also said that a “wide-ranging and sustained effort is needed right across Government to reduce violence against women in its many forms”.

“We must have a place where those who are abused and violated can get solid protection, where those who carry out such abuse are stopped, and where we build a society which understands and respects consensual sexual behaviour and does not tolerate any form of violence against women and girls,” she said.

According to Women’s Aid Ireland, 255 women have died violently since 1996, 63% of whom died within their own homes.

Just 200 of these cases have been resolved and of these, 87% were killed by a man known to them. Half of all femicide victims are killed by a current or former male partner.