Elaine Loughlin: Highlighting race creates a real problem in educating people about violence against women

Long-time campaigner against gender-based violence Ruth Coppinger: 'The common denominator in violence against women is a man, not a nationality'

In his response to the latest violent death
of a woman, Independent Ireland TD Ken
O’Flynn’s natural instinct was to go after
a female politician. Picture: Sam Boal/Collins

Responding to the latest violent death of a woman, Ken O’Flynn’s instinct was to go after a female politician.

Women are killed and other women are the problem, apparently.

To all those wanting to make violence against women about anything except the key issue, a message:

Men are the issue.

Men are the issue.

Men are the issue.

In a real deflection stunt, the Cork North-Central and Independent Ireland TD took to social media and then sent out a press release to criticise Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger for her “very different approach” in two cases, which he claimed was down to the nationality of the suspect or perpetrator.

While the statement dissected Ms Coppinger’s responses to both the killing of Jamey Carney in Killarney and the conviction of Lorcan Murphy for the murder of Mackenzie Michalski in Budapest — mentioning the TD by name five times — it did not make any suggestions around how women might be protected, what supports might be improved to protect victims, or how information and education campaigns might address what is a dangerous scourge that touches every part of society.

Ms Coppinger, who has been a long-time campaigner against gender-based violence and domestic abuse, had raised concerns that the “flames of racism” had been stoked by drawing undue attention to the nationality of the main person of interest in Ms Carney’s death.

“The common denominator in violence against women is a man, not a nationality,” she said.

But Mr O’Flynn, having listened to Ms Coppinger, came to the conclusion that her instinct in each case appeared to depend entirely on the identity of the man involved.

“When the offender was an Irish citizen, his crime became evidence of a wider sickness within Irish society and Irish male culture.

“When the suspect was a non-Irish national, any discussion of factual information surrounding the case was portrayed as racist.”

“What we are witnessing is a political narrative being applied selectively depending on who the suspect is,” he claimed.

Women are being killed by men

In strongly refuting this when contacted by the Irish Examiner, Ms Coppinger, said: “Women are being killed by men, we have a problem with male violence, and people who are trying to highlight race are distracting and creating a real problem in relation to educating people about violence against women.”

Her comments are in keeping with the UN which has stated that initiatives that focus on prevention, changing social norms, and engaging whole communities to create zero tolerance for violence against women, work best.

The UN has also described gender-based violence as one of the most prevalent human rights violations in the world, which undermines the health, dignity, security, and autonomy of survivors.

Mr O’Flynn’s statement pointed to recent reporting which stated that only one of the seven identified suspects in murders of women in Ireland during 2026 is an Irish national, with the remaining suspects reported to be non-Irish nationals.

“Those facts should not be ignored simply because they are politically inconvenient.

“Recognising them does not diminish the tragedy of any victim, nor does it justify prejudice against any community. But neither should facts be suppressed because they challenge an ideological narrative.”

Taking one statistic or fact in isolation can, in relation to any subject, provide a skewed reality.

Eight women killed so far this year

The killing of eight women so far this year is the most tragic tip of what is a much larger iceberg of domestic violence, sexual assaults, and coercive control that is being inflicted against tens of thousands of women each year.

The targeting of women transcends social class, educational attainment, and nationality.

In the Dáil on Thursday, Tánaiste Simon Harris described gender-based violence and other forms of abuse as “an epidemic”.

The figures are grim. Last year alone, Women’s Aid’s frontline teams heard a total of 62,275 disclosures of domestic violence and abuse including 57,520 disclosures against women and 4,755 disclosures of abuse against children.

Across years and decades, statistics have shown that the most dangerous place in Ireland to be a woman is in her own home.

Contrary to a narrative that has been pushed, often by anonymous online accounts, hordes of undocumented and foreign males are not roaming the streets hunting for vulnerable women to sexually abuse and violently assault.

Consistent data shows that in the overwhelming majority of cases the perpetrator is known to the victim.

Garda figures show that between 2019 to 2021, men were the suspected offender in 74% of violent and threatening incidents against women. This increases to 94% of incidents relating to domestic abuse of females.

Female victims more likely to know the offender

For the subset of incidents where the victim offender relationship is available, female victims are also more likely than males to know the offender; 84% of females knew the offender compared to 61% of males.

The figures show a large variation between genders in the ‘attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harassment and related offences’ group; for 59% of all female victims between 2019 and 2021 these incidents occurred in a residential location compared to just 29% of male victims.

As health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill bluntly told the Irish Examiner men must “stop beating the bejesus” out of their partners.

“Don’t force sex on your partner, don’t beat your partner, it’s how to be a man 101 — the plainer that we can say that, the better.”

But if a focus is to be placed on nationality and cultural background as some are insistent on, the emphasis should always be on the victim.

Migrant women, for example, are less likely to leave dangerous relationships and sometimes life-threatening situations for fear of losing their immigration status due to their residence permission being tied to an abusive spouse.

A DCU report which focused on survivors of domestic abuse among south Asians in Ireland also referenced the fact that women in these communities are not aware of their legal rights in Ireland or of the services available to them.

Language limitations to awareness campaigns

Awareness campaigns are mostly in English and Irish, the study found, limiting their reach to individuals who may have limited proficiency in these languages, which also makes it difficult for survivors to seek help.

A heightened fear of coming forward is often exacerbated by concerns about child custody and family separation, which, along with residency status concerns, was repeatedly raised in interviews carried out by the researchers.

The Immigrant Council of Ireland, in calling for greater supports, has also argued that if women who arrive here from other countries were better informed they would feel more empowered to leave abusive environments.

Using femicide and gender-based violence as yet another vehicle to advance anti-migrant sentiment is vile.

The only people who can stop male violence are men. All men. Women need men to become advocates for them without using distractions or amplifying what should be footnotes.

That does not mean that we limit or shut down discussion.

It may be convenient to disown the problem by inferring it is something carried out by strangers, foreigners, or migrants. But this is simply an opportunistic diversion, which promotes an agenda that has no place in the conversation.

Mr O’Flynn also said women in Ireland are being failed by a political culture that too often treats their deaths as opportunities to reinforce predetermined political positions. 

He and all other elected representatives should take heed of this sentiment.

• Elaine Loughlin is Political Editor with the Irish Examiner