Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will read into the record a survey on sexual violence carried out by the Central Statistics Office, CSO, which came out today. There is coverage of it this morning which states that four in ten adults have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime. The results of the survey showed a clear difference by sex and age. This is evident in that half or 52% of women experienced sexual violence in their lifetime compared with 28% of men. Anyone who took part in the survey was 18 or older. Some 65% of women aged 18 to 24 experienced sexual violence in their lifetime compared to 17% of men aged 65 or older. Six times more women experienced non-consensual sexual intercourse as an adult than men. The survey also found that 18% of women experience non-consensual sexual intercourse compared with 3% of men. The data also show that child sexual violence was experienced by men and women across all age groups but young women aged 18 to 24 reported the highest levels. For example, unwanted sexual intercourse as a child was reported by 10% of women aged 18 to 24 compared to 2% of men in this age group. New data on the prevalence of sexual violence from the CSO show that almost eight in ten adults who experienced sexual violence at least once in their lifetime knew the perpetrator, with very little difference between men and women in that regard.About half of all adults, or 47%, who have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime have told someone about it, whether that was one person, many people, a group or an organisation. This means that 53% of those who have experienced sexual violence never told anyone and just kept that locked away. We do not know why they did not tell anyone. The report did not go into it. Just over half of women, or 53%, who experienced sexual violence in their lifetime told someone. That is compared to one third of men, or 34%. That is a really worrying figure when we know that 66% of men who have experienced sexual violence have never told anyone about it. I will quickly read the helplines in case anyone is interested in them. The national sexual violence helpline for men and women can be reached at 1800 778 888 or rapecrisishelp.ie, the national domestic violence helpline for women can be reached at 1800 341 900 and the male advice line for men experiencing domestic abuse is at 1800 816 588. This is important when there are many aggrieved people and near hysteria over children and adolescents receiving age appropriate consent education. I do not know if we need to have a debate about this particular report, but we need to have an overall debate around sexual violence, what is happening and how we are educating people, both on the giving and receiving of consent. I hope there will be the same level of outcry over this, because four out of ten adults experiencing sexual violence over their lifetime is a really shocking figure.