Ireland is experiencing an “epidemic” of gender-based violence, said Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, reports Breaking News.
The Taoiseach was speaking in response to a new Women’s Aid report that said there was a 16 percent increase in contacts with its support services last year.
The agency said its humanitarian workers heard 33,990 disclosures of domestic violence against women and children in 2022.
Women’s Aid says abuses include coercive control, emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and economic control.
Twelve women were brutally killed last year, according to the organization.
Varadkar said five more women have lost their lives this year.
He said: “I have to say those figures are extremely worrying. We are experiencing an epidemic of gender based violence in Ireland and it is very much a Government priority to deal with it,” reports Breaking News.
The Taoiseach said the government’s strategy includes legislation to control coercion and strangulation, increase the number of convictions and create a dedicated agency to combat domestic violence.
Mr Varadkar added: “But we do want to acknowledge that it’s a very serious problem. And a lot of women don’t feel safe because of the violence that is perpetrated. The government has a strategy that has been welcomed by all the groups who work with victims of domestic- or gender-based violence,” reports Breaking News.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.