Gambling with Women and Children’s Safety

7,512 women, 2,462 children supported and over 34,000 helpline calls to domestic violence services in 2009.

“Ireland is now gambling recklessly with the lives of women and children seeking support for domestic violence”, said SAFE Ireland, the representative network of domestic violence services.

It announced its latest stark statistics today, half way through the international 16 days of action against violence against women.

In total, 7,512 women and 2,462 children received support from domestic violence services in 2009, an increase of 43% on numbers since 2007. from feedback from members, 2010 is likely to present further large increases in demand for services, SAFE Ireland warned.

More than 1,534 women and 2,334 children were accommodated in refuges. Over the same period, women and children had to be turned away from refuges on 2,341 occasions* – a figure that vastly exceeds the number of women who were actually accommodated. In addition, 34,332 helpline calls were answered by domestic violence services. That means that an average of nearly 100 calls for help were made everyday of the year.

“There seems to be one inevitability or constant in these times of national uncertainty and flux,” she said. “That is that the vulnerable will always pay. The government is bailing out on women and children living with violence in their homes.”

Director Sharon O’Halloran said that HSE funding for domestic violence services to be ring-fenced as a matter of urgency. She warned that the combination of increased numbers together with severe service cuts mean that critical supports for at-risk women and children are already at breaking point.

“There seems to be one inevitability or constant in these times of national uncertainty and flux,” she said. “That is that the vulnerable will always pay. The government is bailing out on women and children living with violence in their homes.”

“With more cuts to the overall HSE budget on the cards, we are looking at a serious knock-on effect for women and children seeking safety and support unless the existing level of funding for domestic violence services is clearly ring fenced,” she continued. “Many of our services have already been cut by disproportionate amounts. Most are managing to maintain services, but this can’t be guaranteed if budgets are attacked again.

Some SAFE Ireland services have already taken cuts of up to 25% over the past two years with average cuts of between 5 to 10% across the country. These budget cuts have been frontloaded, leaving no leeway for further reductions if even basic support services are to be maintained.

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*Note: this figure is the number of times women had to be turned away, not the number of women.