Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein)
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503. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of calls received by An Garda Síochána in County Clare with respect to reports of DSGBV in each of the past ten years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11040/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Tackling domestic violence and supporting vulnerable victims are priorities for Government, for the Department of Justice, and for the Garda Commissioner.

It is recognised that, historically, people may not have felt able to come forward to report domestic violence, for fear of retribution or indeed because they did not have confidence that the system would support and protect them.

An Garda Síochána and my Department are working hard to strengthen trust and confidence in the criminal justice system so that victims feel empowered to come forward.

My Department has also worked with criminal justice agencies and civil society frontline partners on national awareness-raising campaigns and to co-design our most ambitious domestic, sexual and gender based violence strategy.

I can assure the Deputy that the Gardaí prioritise and proactively respond to incidents of domestic abuse. Gardaí now have Divisional Protective Services Units in each division, so specialised teams nationwide follow up with vulnerable victims in these most difficult cases.

They have also introduced new mandatory domestic violence training, as well as training for using the ‘Risk Evaluation Tool’ to ensure all vulnerable victims receive the service and supports they need.

As part of delivering on the commitments under the Third National Strategy, I am strengthening the law in this area, including by increasing the penalties for assault causing harm, introducing standalone offences of non-fatal strangulation and stalking, and by progressing a new Sexual Offences Bill which will, among other things, improve supports for victims.

Work also continues to implement Supporting a Victim’s Journey,to reform the criminal justice system at every point a victim comes into contact with it.

In relation to the specific information sought by the Deputy, the following table shows the number of calls for assistance in relation to domestic abuse reported in the Clare Division in 2020, 2021 and 2022. I am informed by the Garda Commissioner that as the control room for the relevant region was launched during 2019, comparable data for years preceding 2020 is not available.

Domestic Calls refers to incidents recorded on PULSE where any of the following criteria apply:

1.The incident was classified as any of Breach of Interim Barring Order

- Breach of Protection Order

- Breach of Barring Order

- Breach of Safety Order

- Breach of Emergency Barring Order

- Domestic - No Offence Identified

2.The incident was classified as any offence (other than those listed in 3 above) and had a recorded motive of ‘Domestic Abuse’.

3.The incident was the result of a call for assistance where the dispatcher assigned the incident type as ‘DVSA’ (Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault).

Additional Information

Incident counts are based on reported date and were collated based on PULSE data as of 1:30am on the 6^thMarch 2023. Crime counting rules are not applied to reflect all recorded incidents.

A report on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence was published by An Garda Síochána in September 2022 and is available from the Garda website at: www.garda.ie