Alan Farrell
Question:344. Deputy Alan Farrell asked the Minister for Justice the number of domestic violence calls to an Garda Síochána in 2020, 2021 and to date in 2022; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15587/22]
View answerThursday, 24 March 2022
Questions (344)
Written answers
I can assure the Deputy I am committed to tackling domestic, sexual and gender-based violence (DSGBV) in all its forms, and to ensuring that people, particularly women and vulnerable people, feel safe and are safe where they live, work and socialise.
The prioritisation of this hugely important work is evident in the policy and legislative developments implemented by this Government and those that are currently being progressed. Additionally, increased budget allocations have been secured this year in order to combat domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and to support victims of this heinous and unacceptable behaviour.
As the Deputy may be aware, I am currently leading work on a new whole of Government strategy to combat domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. This new strategy will have a particular focus on prevention, and on ensuring victims are better supported. It will set an overall goal of zero tolerance in our society for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.
The new Strategy will be structured around the four pillars or goals of the Istanbul Convention which are -
- Prevention
- Protection
- Prosecution
- Co-ordinated Policies.
Under each of these high level objectives there will be a number of specific aims listed but the Strategy and aims will be high level in tone and content.
The Strategy has been developed in partnership with the sector to ensure it is targeted, comprehensive and effective in achieving all of the goals set out.
It is my intention to publish the final Strategy and its accompanying Action Plans in April.
On foot of the Deputy's question, I contacted An Garda Síochána to seek the specific information sought and that is presented below:
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.
|
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
|
|
Domestic Abuse Incidents |
44,411 |
48,837 |
10,924 |
Incident counts are based on reported date and were collated based on PULSE data as of 1:30am on the 21st March 2022. Crime counting rules are not applied to reflect all recorded incidents.
Operation Faoiseamh commenced on 01 April 2020 and is an initiative undertaken by An Garda Síochána for the purpose of providing enhanced proactive support to victims of domestic abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Garda National Protective Service Bureau (GNPSB) oversees the implementation of this proactive initiative, which was launched with the aim of ensuring that victims of domestic abuse are supported and protected.