Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence

Monday, 11 September 2023

Questions (1104)

Patrick Costello

Question:

1104. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Justice for a breakdown of the numbers of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence cases reported to gardaí over the past ten years which have led to a successful court prosecution; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37543/23]

View answer

Written answers

Minister for Justice

I have sought the information requested by the Deputy from the Garda authorities, however, the information was not available in time. I will write to the Deputy once the information is to hand.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51.

I would like to assure you that both Commissioner Harris and I are committed to combatting all forms of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and to ensuring that An Garda Síochána is resourced to provide support to victims of this terrible crime. As I am sure you are aware, the national roll out of Divisional Protective Service Units (DPSUs) was an action under Supporting a Victim's Journey, and it has now been completed. There is now a DPSU established in every Garda division across the country. This ensures that vulnerable victims of crimes, such as domestic abuse and sexual violence, presenting to Gardaí are met with a consistently high standard of specialist, sensitive, professional and expert assistance. This specialisation ensures that when victims of domestic and sexual violence present to Gardaí, at perhaps their most vulnerable moment, they are met with professional and expert assistance. I would like to assure you that while officers attached to DPSUs receive a range of specialist training, all Gardaí are trained as first responders so they are equipped to deal with victims, including of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.

On foot of your question, I contacted An Garda Síochána (AGS) to seek the specific information requested, which is presented in the table below.

The counts in the table below are a combination of the following:

The incident type is one of:

Coercive Control

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 crime incident type, but with a recorded motive of ‘Domestic Abuse’. The number of those incidents that have at least one prosecution (charge or summons) is also shown.

	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Incidents	3,606	4,243	5,210	6,492	7,575	9,306
Incidents with Prosecutions	1,904	2,255	2,696	3,201	3,673	4,514

	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023*
Incidents	11,001	12,800	15,505	17,531	11,362
Incidents with Prosecutions	5,589	7,304	8,110	8,312	4,645

* Up to and including 10-Sep-2023

Additional Information

Incident counts are based on reported date and were collated based on PULSE data as of 1:30am on the 11th of September 2023.

Crime counting rules are not applied.