Record numbers of women are contacting Women’s Aid to report abuse by their partners and ex-partners including rape, sexual assault and even threats on either their or their children’s lives.
The charity said it dealt with more contacts and disclosures in 2024 than in any other year in its 50-year history.
A third of the women who contacted Women’s Aid reported “a broad and brutal pattern of abuse” at the hands of partners and ex-partners. It said domestic violence is now endemic in society.
The national group which helps victims of domestic abuse said the disclosures reported to it include assaults with weapons, constant surveillance and monitoring, relentless put downs and humiliations, the taking and sharing of intimate images online, complete control over all family finances, sexual assault, rape and being threatened with their or their children’s lives.
There were increased reports of all forms of abuse against women, with the reports of:
- physical abuse up 22%;
- sexual abuse up 30%;
- emotional abuse up 15%;
- and economic abuse up 5%.
Earlier this year the revealed domestic violence incidents reported to gardaí had jumped by more than 20% in the space of two years to just over 65,000 cases in 2024.
Women’s Aid described the number and nature of reports as “appalling” and warned that the disclosures made to its frontline services represent “just the tip of the iceberg” and proof that domestic abuse doesn’t occur in some dark corner.
“It is endemic in all aspects of our society,” its CEO Sarah Benson said. “If we want to stop harm before it happens, we need to be an equal society with zero tolerance of domestic abuse.”
She was speaking ahead of the launch today of the Women’s Aid annual impact report for 2024 which shows that a total of 46,765 disclosures of incidents of domestic violence and abuse were made to its national 24-hour freephone helpline and regional face-to-face services during the course of 32,144 individual contacts last year – a 12% increase in contacts and a 17% increase in disclosures compared to the previous year.
Its helpline received 24,396 contacts – a 17% increase on the previous year. The disclosures included 41,432 of abuse against women and 5,333 of abuse against children.
The report shows that 35% of women who contacted Women’s Aid last year suffered physical, psychological or sexual abuse at the hands of an intimate partner, with a similar number (33%) subjected to domestic abuse from their ex-partner, showing that the end of a relationship doesn’t always mean the end of the abuse.
Among the domestic violence cases reported on by the in recent weeks was that of ex-garda Margaret Loftus who was violently assaulted by her then husband Trevor Bolger, also a garda. It took Ms Loftus 13 years to get justice.
Last week, Cork District Court heard an allegation from a woman that her ex-husband threatened to drive over her during a disputed interaction at a child access arrangement.
Ms Benson said fear, stigma, and the debilitating impact of the abuse itself, as well as persisting social attitudes to domestic violence, can prevent victims from coming forward.
“So many victim-survivors lack the information or confidence to contact specialist services, and about one third will suffer in total isolation, telling nobody what is happening to them,” she said.
“We still have so much work to do to break this silence to encourage those in need to get the support they deserve.”
But specialist services are still overstretched and underfunded, challenging their capacity to meet an increasing demand for help, the report says.
The lack of visibility of domestic abuse in national housing strategy and plans, and the dearth of appropriate specialist accommodation provision for survivors of abuse, is also limiting ‘safe home’ options, it says.
“Our report may read like bad news but there is also hope, survival and many examples of co-ordinated efforts between statutory, civil society organisations, individual supporters and survivors to continue to accelerate positive change,” Ms Benson said.
