Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 January 2022
1248. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Justice the number of domestic violence incidents reported to An Garda Síochána in each of the years 2017 to 2021; the breakdown of these incidents by incident types (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1201/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy will be aware, under the Garda Síochána Act 2005, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the administration and management of An Garda Síochána. As Minister for Justice, I have no direct role in these matters.
To be of assistance to the Deputy, I requested and received the information set out in the following table from An Garda Síochána:
|
Incident Type |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
|
Breach of Barring Order |
514 |
552 |
697 |
786 |
744 |
|
Breach of Emergency Barring Order |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
|
Breach of Interim Barring Order |
62 |
82 |
143 |
137 |
144 |
|
Breach of Protection Order |
902 |
1,139 |
1,365 |
1,971 |
2,101 |
|
Breach of Safety Order |
1,066 |
1,262 |
1,522 |
1,451 |
1,683 |
|
Domestic Dispute - No Offence Disclosed |
14,458 |
15,104 |
19,469 |
22,820 |
24,512 |
*Figure less than 10.
I am informed that figures were collated based on PULSE data as of 1:30 am on the 7th January, 2022. They are operational and may be liable to change. Crime counting rules are not applied to reflect all recorded incidents. Figures less than 10 are not released due to data protection considerations.
Operation Faoiseamh, which commenced on 1 April 2020, is an initiative undertaken by An Garda Síochána for the purpose of providing enhanced proactive support to victims of domestic abuse. The Garda National Protective Service Bureau (GNPSB) oversees the implementation of this proactive initiative.
I can assure the Deputy that this Government is committed to tackling domestic, sexual and gender based violence in all its forms, and to supporting victims of this heinous crime.
As the Deputy will be aware, my Department is leading the development across government of the Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence. This plan will outline how the government will radically improve services and supports for victims and will be the most ambitious plan to date.
My Department is also currently implementing Supporting a Victim’s Journey, our plan to help victims and vulnerable witnesses in sexual violence cases which I published last year. Its implementation will reform the criminal justice system at every point a victim comes into contact with it.
The increased funding of €5.35m secured under Budget 2022 will allow us to continue to build on the work undertaken in 2021 and enable us to roll out specific awareness raising and training programmes to combat domestic, sexual and gender based violence. It will also allow us to provide additional supports to NGOs and specific domestic violence intervention programmes and it will support a number of front line activities. We will continue to work to improve the system for victims and to better support them so they have confidence to reach out for help and report what has happened.
As part of this, an additional €1.1m will be used to put in place a legal advice and legal aid service in court for victims of sexual violence and €1 million is being provided to the Garda vote to refurbish and upgrade the Divisional Protective Service Units.
