Ms Allison Graham:

Absolutely. Over the years we have seen numerous women, I could not count them, who lost their job. It might be because they could not give the ongoing commitment of being in work day in, day out. They may have come to a refuge that may be in a different county or area and they may not have transport and may not have the family supports etc. that they were used to having.

We have seen women who had to take the very difficult decision to leave a job and hand in their notice because they just felt they could not handle it any more, could not keep juggling it all and could not commit to it, or there was pressure coming from their employers, who were noting that they had taken a lot of time off, said they were unreliable or asked what was going on. Employers would say that they needed to be in work and they could not take time off. Women doing shift work and all sorts of other work have faced challenges because they were not able to commit to it any more. There have been numerous women who have lost employment because of that. I mentioned that some of these women were new in jobs and perhaps were trying to prove themselves. Many of them were not from Ireland originally and had moved here, and had struggled to get a job. They got a job, this had happened and they felt that they could not speak to their manager. There was not an open door in terms of feeling that they could speak about it and what they were going through. There also have been women who have muddled through, done their best and continued to go to work. It has taken its toll on their mental and physical health. At the same time, they are looking for a safer option away from the abuse and are trying to keep their kids going with some normality. It is a big challenge for women, first to talk about it in their job to their manager and second, to find some sort of compassion. Our experience has been that some employers are open when women come forward and speak to them. We have asked women what would be the worst thing that would happen if they spoke to their managers, then they have spoken to them and have found them to be very compassionate. There have also been women who have had a very negative experience, where nothing was listened to and there was no compassion or empathy. The women were pushed out the door because they could not commit to the work and the managers did not want to know about their personal problems.