IN JUST ONE day, 770 women and children received support from domestic violence services in Ireland.
Safe Ireland carried out its annual one-day census on 4 November 2011 which revealed that 429 women and 341 children were accommodated or received support on that day.
The figures were released this morning in tandem with a global data count to give a snap-shot of one day in the lives of women suffering because of domestic violence.
On one day around the world, 56,308 women and 39,130 children sought support from 25 domestic violence networks operating in 36 countries.
Of the women counted on 4 November in Ireland, 10 were pregnant and 11 were over the age of 65.
Sharon O’Halloran, director of Safe Ireland, said that 499 women and children were living in refuge or supported housing because they were not safe in their own homes.
Ten women could not be accommodated on 4 November because there was not sufficient space.
Further to the accommodation requests, 127 helpline calls were made to the services.
“These figures show the enormity of domestic violence in Ireland and the disruption it causes to the fragile lives of women and their children, most of them just school kids,” O’Halloran said.
Domestic violence continues to be the greatest human rights violation for women, here and globally.
She called for a “whole country response” to domestic violence, stating that its network cannot operate in isolation.
“This is not just our business. This is not just women’s business. Domestic violence has to be everyone’s business,” she said.
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