Facts

Domestic abuse is more common than you think.

  • In 2023 there were 28,638 contacts with Women’s Aid
    • including 20,891 with the Women’s Aid 24hr National Freephone Helpline and 7,747 with our Face-to-Face Support Services
  • During these contacts, we heard 40,048 disclosures of abuse
    • including 35,570 disclosures of abuse against women and 4,478 disclosures of abuse against children.
  • There were 256,848 visits to www.womensaid.ie and 63,138 visits to www.toointoyou.ie.

(Women’s Aid Annual Impact Report 2023)

  • One in four (25%) women in Ireland experienced sexual violence as an adult with a partner.

(CSO Sexual Violence Survey 2023).

  • An Garda Síochána responded to over 65,000 domestic abuse incidents in 2024, which translates to an average of 1,250 incidents every week.

(An Garda Síochána, 2025).

  • 31.8% of women in the EU have experienced psychological, physical and/or sexual abuse from an intimate partner in their lifetime. (EU gender-based violence survey, Fundamental Rights Agency, 2024)
  • 1 in 3 women worldwide experience physical or sexual violence, mostly by an intimate partner (UN Women, 2021)
  • Fewer than 40% of the women who experience violence seek help of any sort (UN Women, 2015)
  • 42% of women who experience intimate partner violence report an injury as a consequence of this violence (WHO, 2013)

  • According to the Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence: A Report on Crime Levels and Garda Operational Responses, 2022:
    • Males and females experience violent and threatening crimes differently. For female victims, there is a close link between domestic abuse and sexual/other types of violence. A domestic abuse motive was recorded for 90% of all females who were victims of Murder/Manslaughter/Infanticide and 43% of all females who were victims of Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments and Related Offences between 2019 and 2021. Male victims, whilst also experiencing domestic abuse, are more likely to be subject to violence by offenders unknown to them and/or in incidents not relating to domestic abuse
    • The offender is male in the majority of incidents with a female victim (74%). When the victim is male, the offender is also male for the majority (88%)
    • For the sub-set of incidents where the Victim Offender Relationship is available, female victims are more likely than males to know the offender (84% of female victims compared to 61% of male victims)
  • The 2005 National Crime Council and ESRI research into the domestic abuse of women and men in Ireland found that 1 in 7 women in Ireland compared to 1 in 17 men experience severe domestic violence. Women are over twice as likely as men to have experienced severe physical abuse, seven times more likely to have experienced sexual abuse, and are more likely to experience serious injuries than men. According to the research, women are twice as likely to be injured as a result of domestic abuse; more likely to experience serious injuries; more likely to require medical attention as a result of abuse; and the impact of the abuse in terms of fear, distress and health impacts is more significant for women than men. (NCC & ERSI, 2005)

  • Globally, 85,000 women and girls were killed intentionally in 2023 – 60% of these homicides (51,100) were committed by an intimate partner or a family member. (Femicides in 2023, UN Women, 2024)
  • Everyday 140 women and girls are killed by an intimate partner or other members of their family (Femicides in 2023, UN Women, 2024)
  • Since 1996, 275 women have died violently in the Republic of Ireland (up to 3rd March 2025).
    • Of the women that were killed:
      • 63% were killed in their own homes.
      • 55% were killed by a partner or ex (of the resolved cases)
      • Almost 9 in 10 women knew their killer

(Women’s Aid Femicide Watch 1996-2025)

The Irish Context

  • The One in Five Report by Women’s Aid (2020) on intimate relationship abuse against young women shows that:
    • 1 in 5 young women in Ireland have been subjected to intimate relationship abuse
    • 51% of young women affected experienced the abuse under the age of 18
    • 9 in 10 of the young women who were abused experienced emotional abuse

The International Context

  • In the EU:
  • In the USA:
    • 43% of dating college women report experiencing violent and abusive behaviours including physical, sexual, tech, verbal or controlling abuse within an intimate relationship (Knowledge Networks, 2011)
    • 1 in 11 female high school students report having experienced physical dating violence (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, last updated 2020)
    • 1 in 9 female high school students report having experienced sexual dating violence in one year (Centre for Disease Control and Presentation, last updated 2020)
  • According to UN Women, almost 1 in 4 adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 who have been in a relationship have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner or husband.

  • The Irish national estimated cost of domestic violence and abuse over a woman’s journey to safety (an average of 20.5 years) is €56 billion (Safe Ireland and NUIG, 2021)
  • EIGE has estimated that the cost of gender-based violence across the EU is €366 billion a year. Violence against women makes up 79 % of this cost, amounting to €289 billion. Intimate partner violence makes up almost half (48 %, €174 billion) of the cost of gender based violence. Intimate partner violence against women makes up 87 % of this sum (€151 billion) (EIGE, 2021)
  • In the USA, the lifetime economic cost associated with medical services for intimate partner violence-related injuries, lost productivity from paid work, criminal justice and other costs was $3.6 trillion. The cost of intimate partner violence over a victim’s lifetime is $103,767 for women (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, last reviewed 2020)

  • There were 1,448 disclosures of sexual abuse against women, and 58 against children, made to the Women’s Aid services in 2023, including 307 disclosures of rape against women. (Women’s Aid, 2023)

 

  • The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre’s National Helpline received 18,605 contacts in 2023. (DRCC Annual Report 2023)
    • 71.3% of those who contacted to the 24-hour National Rape Crisis Helpline were female.
    • Of those contacts who were subjected to sexual violence (rape or sexual assault) as adults, 23.1% reported that their abuse was by an intimate partner.
    • DRCC accompanied 308 victims/survivors to a Sexual Assault Treatment Unit (SATU) in 2023.
    • They supported 286 victims/survivors in the criminal justice system in 2023.
    • DRCC provided therapy to 497 clients in 2023.

 

  • Applications to the District Court under the domestic violence legislation increased by 12% in 2020 to 22,970 from 20,501 in 2019 (Courts Services Annual Report 2020)
  • According to An Garda Síochána:
  • According the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2014 in Ireland:
    • 21% of women who experienced physical or sexual violence by a partner, indicated that they contacted the police as a consequence of the most serious incident of physical or sexual violence since age 15
    • 28% of women indicated that the most serious incident of violence by a partner came to the attention of the Police. This includes both by women reporting themselves and third party reporting. This is one of the highest percentages in the EU
  • In 2023, Women’s Aid Support Workers accompanied 154 women to 316 court appointments for Domestic Violence-related hearings.
  • The Domestic Abuse Information and Support Service for Women at Dolphin House supported 868 women during 891 interventions in 2023. (Women’s Aid Annual Impact Report 2023)

  • In more than 40% of cases, children who live with domestic violence abuse are also frequently directly abused, physically or sexually (Tusla, 2015)
  • In 2023, there were 4,478 incidents of child abuse disclosed to Women’s Aid (Women’s Aid 2023)
  • In Europe, 73% of women who have experienced physical or sexual violence by a current or a previous partner indicate that their children have become aware of the violence (The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2014)

  • 31% of women who contacted Women’s Aid in 2023 disclosed that they were abused by an ex-male partner
  • We heard 845 disclosures from mothers that their ex-partners were using access visits to abuse them, often in front of their children
  • It was disclosed on 203 occasions that children were being directly physically, emotionally and/or sexually abused during access visits with their fathers. (Women’s Aid Annual Impact Report 2023)

  • Hotline.ie, launched its Intimate Image Abuse (IIA) service in 2021 and from September 2021-September 2022 it received 773 reports of image based abuse. (Hotline.ie 2021 Annual Report).
  • In 2020, it was estimated that 1 in 2 young women experienced gender-based cyber violence. 76% of women said they changed the way they use social media after experiencing cyber harassment, of which online hate speech is a form, and 32% said they ceased posting their opinions on certain issues (European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), 2022)
  • In the Women’s Aid (2020) One in Five Report we found that of the one in five young women who suffered abuse from a partner or ex, 49% suffered online abuse
  • It is estimated that globally, 1 in 10 women has experienced at least one form of cyber violence since the age of 15 (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2017)
  • Women (particularly young women aged 18 – 24) disproportionately experience severe types of cyber harassment, such as cyber stalking and online sexual harassment in many cases at the hands of partners and ex-partners (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2017)
  • The Women’s Aid Federation of England research (2019) on online domestic violence and abuse found that:
    • For 85% of respondents the abuse they received online from a partner or ex-partner was part of a pattern of abuse they also experienced offline
    • Nearly a third of respondents (29%) experienced the use of spyware or GPS locators on their phone or computers by a partner or ex-partner
    • For half (50%) of respondents the online abuse they experienced also involved direct threats to them or someone they knew
    • Nearly a third of those respondents who had received threats stated that where threats had been made online by a partner or ex-partner they were carried out
    • Conviction data for image-based sexual abuse show that out of the 464 prosecutions for this offence recorded in the year ending March 2018, 86% (400) were flagged as being domestic violence and abuse related.