Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 July 2023
806. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Justice to provide, in tabular form, domestic, sexual and gender-based violence offences data for 2022, broken down by Garda district or station, to include, but not limited to, rape, sexual assault, domestic violence and coercive control. [35840/23]
View answer808. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Justice to provide, in tabular form, a breakdown of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence offences data, to include, but not limited to, rape, sexual assault, domestic violence and coercive control for the period of 2020-2023 to date in the Dublin north inner city and north-west inner city. [35842/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 806 and 808 together.
Tackling domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and supporting vulnerable victims are priorities for Government, the Department of Justice, and the Garda Commissioner.
It is recognised that, historically, people may not have felt able to come forward to report such violence, for fear of retribution or 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.
Gardaí now have Divisional Protective Services Units in each division, so specialised teams nationwide follow up with vulnerable victims in these most difficult cases.
The offence of coercive control was introduced in section 39 of the Domestic Violence Act 2018. Creating a specific offence of coercive control sent a clear, consistent message that non-violent control in an intimate relationship is criminal.
The prosecutions and convictions to date for this offence will hopefully encourage anyone who may be a victim of this crime to come forward and seek help. For those who perpetrate this crime, the message is also clear – you cannot act with impunity. It is hoped that as more convictions follow, other victims of coercive control will feel confident to come forward.
As part of delivering on the commitments under the Third National Strategy, I am further strengthening the law to combat all forms of domestic, sexual and gender based violence. Earlier this month I brought forward legislation which includes increasing the penalties for assault causing harm, introducing the standalone offence of non-fatal strangulation and I am progressing a new Sexual Offences Bill which will, among other things, better support 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, I am informed 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 - No Offence Identified
• Breach of Emergency Barring Order
or is of any incident type, but with a recorded motive of ‘Domestic Abuse’.
|
Region |
Division |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023* |
|
Dublin |
D.M.R. Eastern |
1,039 |
1,031 |
1,174 |
619 |
|
|
D.M.R. North Central |
1,253 |
1,559 |
1,602 |
870 |
|
|
D.M.R. Northern |
3,441 |
3,459 |
3,820 |
2,217 |
|
|
D.M.R. South Central |
1,159 |
1,229 |
1,382 |
755 |
|
|
D.M.R Southern |
2,436 |
2,590 |
2,960 |
1,564 |
|
|
D.M.R. Western |
3,810 |
4,261 |
4,651 |
2,486 |
|
Eastern |
Kildare Division |
1,600 |
1,637 |
2,153 |
1,135 |
|
|
Kilkenny/Carlow |
730 |
900 |
977 |
636 |
|
|
Laois/Offaly |
1,150 |
1,369 |
1,527 |
875 |
|
|
Meath Division |
1,210 |
1,419 |
1,489 |
833 |
|
|
Waterford Division |
937 |
1,078 |
1,265 |
682 |
|
|
Westmeath Division |
829 |
842 |
1,008 |
579 |
|
|
Wexford Division |
1,018 |
1,235 |
1,473 |
814 |
|
|
Wicklow Division |
814 |
804 |
918 |
504 |
|
North Western |
Cavan/Monaghan |
937 |
1,226 |
1,320 |
685 |
|
|
Donegal |
898 |
1,020 |
1,172 |
696 |
|
|
Galway Division |
1,337 |
1,670 |
1,811 |
1,024 |
|
|
Louth Division |
1,572 |
1,833 |
1,930 |
1,043 |
|
|
Mayo/Roscommon/Longford |
1,422 |
1,776 |
1,968 |
1,107 |
|
|
Sligo/Leitrim |
691 |
885 |
784 |
385 |
|
Southern Region |
Clare |
705 |
830 |
889 |
618 |
|
|
Cork City |
1,744 |
1,735 |
2,170 |
1,127 |
|
|
Cork North |
904 |
1,024 |
1,187 |
669 |
|
|
Cork West |
510 |
558 |
585 |
358 |
|
|
Kerry |
926 |
1,050 |
1,281 |
681 |
|
|
Limerick |
1,642 |
2,015 |
2,477 |
1,450 |
|
|
Tipperary |
931 |
1,100 |
1,251 |
743 |
* Up to and including 19-Jul-2023
The Deputy will wish to be aware that the incident counts are based on reported data and were collated based on PULSE data as of 1:30am on 20 July 2023. Crime counting rules are not applied.
I have been advised by An Garda Síochána that the statistics for rape and sexual assault are available from the CSO at Divisional level and can be accessed via the following link:
data.cso.ie/table/CJQ06
I am further informed that in relation to coercive control, the count of reported incidents is too low to provide a breakdown at Garda Divisional level but a summary of incidents reported by Garda Region since 2020 are provided in the table below.
|
Garda Region |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
|
Dublin Region |
36 |
36 |
40 |
22 |
|
Eastern Region (New) |
26 |
42 |
53 |
20 |
|
North Western Region |
24 |
51 |
59 |
21 |
|
Southern Region (New) |
22 |
36 |
44 |
18 |
|
National |
108 |
165 |
196 |
81 |
