Domestic violence crisis - State inaction putting lives at risk

The series on domestic violence beginning in today’s Irish Examiner presents a harrowing picture of violence, frustration, incompetence, indifference and appalling political neglect.

Professionals in the field say that problems have reached epidemic proportions, with as many as one-in- five Irish women suffering from some form of domestic violence. In landmark research last year, the National Crime Council calculated that 213,000 women had been severely abused. Many were reluctant to come forward because the legal system is stacked against them, and the Government and State agencies are providing little assistance.

Women who seek help are frequently ignored. There were 25,843 calls last year to the helpline set up by Women’s Aid. That represented only a fraction of the overall number of women suffering from domestic abuse, but some 10,000 of those calls, or almost 40%, went unanswered.

A majority of the calls answered were from first-time callers, and it must have been particularly disillusioning for those who failed to get even an answer when they first turned for help.

The service has only three lines, and there are not enough people to cover those lines at all times, because of lack of funding. Last year the Government promised the extra €70,000 needed to ensure the lines were properly covered, but Women’s Aid is still waiting for the Health Service Executive to provide the money.

The HSE has squandered millions on faulty computing systems, and spent a fortune on bonuses rewarding some of its people, while inefficiencies continue to plague it. Yet the HSE could not find the time to allocate a relatively tiny amount to provide some hope for women in distress, which is the very least it should be doing.

Violence against women is a multi-faceted issue that requires a variety of responses, from six different Government departments and such agencies as the Health Service Executive, the Courts Service, An Garda Siochána, and every local authority.

With the responsibility spread so widely, no one is ultimately held accountable. All prefer to discuss the complications of dealing with the problems and blaming others for the inaction. The Department of Health has most responsibility, among the six government departments involved. The €7 million urgently needed would be a relatively small sum out of allocations exceeding €12 billion.

Money is being squandered while this appalling form of abuse is being ignored, due to a lack of political will. When the Task Force on Violence Against Women released its report in 1997, there were 11,361 applications for barring orders, safety orders and protection orders, with 58% being granted. By comparison, last year there were only 8,899 applications for the same orders, and 45% of those were struck out.

The figures for 2003 showed a 20% increase in the number of calls to the Women’s Aid helpline but an 18% drop in the number of police call-outs. An average of 28 women arrived at shelters each week, and 25% of the women were sent straight home to abusive partners.

In that year, five women were killed by intimate partners. Calls to the Women’s Aid helplines increased by 26.8% over two years in the figures for 2005. That amounted to a drop in the annual rate of increase, but the decline was a measure of growing disillusionment, rather than progress.

It takes up to 10 weeks to get a hearing in Dublin’s dedicated family courts, while some 40% of women are turned away from refuges, and they have to wait up to three months to get a barring order. About 80% of those women do not have the benefit of court protection, and two-thirds of the applications for barring orders are struck out or refused.

The real measure of the official indifference is the fact that Ireland has the lowest conviction rate for domestic violence in the European Union. Only 5% of cases end in a conviction. As a society we have been largely ignoring domestic abuse involving women and children. The consequences of that indifference are all too apparent in the spiralling nature of the problems, which are likely to get worse.

Alcohol is involved in some 70% of those cases, and the smoking ban and crack down on drink driving could lead to a change in our drinking culture, whereby more people drink at home. This could result in a further increase in domestic violence, with frightening implications, not only for the abused women but also for the children who witness such outrageous behaviour.

Women’s Aid, which starts its national fundraising campaign tomorrow, plans a protest in front of the Dáil. The ultimate responsibility for the various failings must rest with the Government. Minister for Justice Michael McDowell continues to ignore the need for reforms recommended by the National Crime Council and the Law Reform Committee.

Other departments and state agencies are adopting a similar indifferent approach. At the end of the day, the Progressive Democrats may be blamed, because their ministers are most involved, but this should present a challenge for that party to demonstrate it can be effective and can make a meaningful difference in tackling problems that have been neglected for so long.