Mary White (Fianna Fail)

Yesterday morning, I attended the publication of the Women's Aid 2011 annual statistics report. As many Senators know, Women's Aid is the national organisation providing support and information to women experiencing domestic violence. It has the only free national domestic violence helpline, with specialised and trained staff and an interpretation service covering 170 languages. I was fascinated to learn that we could provide such a service. Women's Aid offers a Dublin-based one-to-one support service and a court accompaniment service. It also refers women to local refuges and support services throughout the country.

Women using the organisation's helpline disclosed 13,000 incidents of physical, emotional, sexual and financial abuse in 2011. There were 2,000 disclosures of direct emotional, physical and sexual abuse of children in homes where mothers are being abused. This is a 25% increase on the previous year's figure. Ms Margaret Martin stated:

1 in 5 women in Ireland are affected by physical, emotional, sexual and financial abuse. The sad fact is that it can happen to any woman, in any home and at any stage in her life. In 2011, women disclosed that they were punched, slapped, kicked, held down and strangled and beaten with household items. Women told us that they were constantly belittled, criticised, blamed and stalked and harassed via technology both during the relationship and after leaving.