Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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473. 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; the number of criminal charges reported for alleged crimes involving an element of domestic abuse; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56334/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I am deeply committed to tackling domestic, sexual and gender based violence in all its forms, and to supporting victims of such heinous crimes.

As the Deputy will be aware, in June, I launched the new whole-of-government strategy to combat domestic, sexual, gender-based violence. This new plan has a particular focus on prevention, and on ensuring victims are better supported. It sets an overall goal of zero tolerance in our society for domestic violence.

I know from engaging with the Commissioner that An Garda Síochána also attaches the highest priority to combatting all forms of domestic abuse and to helping and protecting those that are victims of this hideous crime. Operation Faoiseamh, launched at the start of the pandemic, is an ongoing proactive initiative, designed to ensure victims of domestic abuse are supported and protected. It ensures domestic abuse incidents receive the highest priority response from Gardaí.  

In addition, Divisional Protective Service Units have been rolled out across the country and are now available in every Garda division. This means that specially trained officers are available nationwide 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 specialist professional and expert assistance. 

In relation to the specific information sought by the Deputy, I am informed by An Garda Síochána  that to determine the number of Domestic Abuse incidents reported in a given timeframe a number of criteria are applied. 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’.

In addition to the above, incidents of any type recorded on PULSE which were the result of a call for assistance where the dispatcher assigned the type as ‘DVSA’ (Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault) are also included in the counts.

The figures under ‘Domestic Calls’ are counts of incidents based on the above and are based on incident reported date.

The figures under ‘Charges (Domestic Incidents)’ show counts of any charge type linked to domestic abuse incidents (Domestic Dispute, Breach of Order incident or any incident with ‘Domestic Abuse’ MO). Figures are based on charge date, the associated incidents could be from anytime.

The figures under ‘Charges (Breaches of Orders)’ show counts of charges created for the offences:

- ‘Breach Of Barring Order / Interim Barring Order / Protection Order / Safety Order Contrary to section 17(1) of the Domestic Violence Act, 1996.’

- Breach of Safety Order / Barring Order / Interim Barring Order / Emergency Barring Order (Domestic Violence Act 2018) ’

Figures are based on charge date, the associated incidents could be from anytime.

Incident counts are based on reported date and were collated based on PULSE data as of 1:30 a.m. on the 11th November 2022. Crime counting rules are not applied to reflect all recorded incidents.