Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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553. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she will provide figures relating to domestic abuse incidents across all divisions of An Garda Síochána in the year to date, including the number of calls received by An Garda Síochána to respond to domestic abuse incidents, the number of criminal charges referred for breaches of domestic abuse court orders and the number of criminal charges reported for crimes involving an element of domestic abuse; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43667/21]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Tackling domestic abuse and providing supports for victims is a priority for me as Minister and for Government. I am working with my colleagues and with our partners to ensure we have an appropriate collective national response that supports victims and holds perpetrators to account.

I would like to assure the Deputy that An Garda Síochána attaches the highest priority to domestic abuse incidents. Operation Faoiseamh - an ongoing initiative - was established to ensure there was proactive and targeted action and supports for those affected during the pandemic.

Gardaí also continue to develop their specialist services in this area and Divisional Protective Services Units have now been rolled out nationwide, meaning that specially trained officers are available who will be responsible for engagement with, and interviewing of, vulnerable victims. This ensures that when vulnerable victims of crimes such as domestic abuse and sexual violence present to Gardaí, they are met with a consistently high standard of specialist, professional and expert assistance.

The following tables, provided to me by An Garda Síochána, outline the specific information sought by the Deputy.

1. The number of domestic abuse incidents by region. The counts in the table below are a combination of the following:

The incident type is one of:

- Breach of Interim Barring Order

- Breach of Protection Order

- Breach of Barring Order

- Breach of Safety Order

- Domestic Dispute - No Offence Disclosed

- Breach of Emergency Barring Order

or is of any incident type, but with a recorded motive of ‘Domestic Abuse’.

The table shows incidents reported in 2021 up to and including the 9th of September.

2. The table below shows the number of the various ‘Breach of Order’ incidents types and also any crime incident with a recorded motive of ‘Domestic Abuse’ reported in 2021 up to and including the 9th of September. The number of those incidents that have an associated charge to date is also shown.

The number of charges will change as investigations are concluded.