I presume the Deputy refers to the draft report, Men and Domestic Violence: What Research Tells Us, which was commissioned of external consultants by my Department in collaboration with the North-Eastern Health Board in 2000.
In 1999-2000, the organisation AMEN, which is a voluntary support group for men who have encountered domestic abuse, sought funding from this Department. As there was no information on the incidence of domestic abuse of men in Ireland, my Department commissioned a literature review of research carried out abroad in this area. The review was to address the following: what work has been carried out in relation to prevalence of domestic violence against men and what are the findings; what paradigms are used to understand the phenomenon; what measures have been useful; what service needs have men who have been victims of violence identified; what services have been developed in other countries and what trends are known in relation to their effectiveness.