Some 20 women were forced to flee their homes in one Dublin constituency since 2022 due to domestic violence, threats, or intimidation.
This year alone, six women in the Cherry Orchard area have had to flee their homes permanently because of the threat of violence or violence enacted upon them, according to People Before Profit councillor Hazel de Nortúin.
In her constituency, Ms de Nortúin said she frequently receives calls from distraught women looking for help to get out of their unsafe homes and find secure accommodation.
The outreach, prevention and training manager with Saoirse Domestic Violence Services, Nadine O’Brien, said that the figures given by Ms de Nortúin would be “a low number for me”.
“It’s very common to hear of a woman needing to leave her home because of threats of being petrol bombed or their house is going to be set on fire. That’s our bread and butter, we hear that all the time,” said Ms O’Brien.
The prevalence of violence against women and girls on all levels is at the worst she has seen in her years working in the field, Ms O’Brien said, describing it as a pandemic.
Some women are killed at the hands of their abuser, but it is not uncommon to hear of women who have taken their own lives as a result of the violence and threats, Ms O’Brien explained.
Following a cluster of suicides among women in the Ballyfermot area in 2019, the HSE National Office of Suicide Prevention carried out a rapid assessment and concluded that domestic violence was one of the factors involved.
The lack of options and absence of wraparound services for these women is leaving them feeling stranded with no respite from the threats and intimidation.
Often the threats feel inescapable as “it is not the perpetrator themselves, it is their wider network that can cause the level of intimidation”, said Ms de Nortúin.
The Saoirse services and Ms de Nortúin fought “tooth and nail” to get a domestic violence outreach worker for the area, but staff are leaving because they cannot cope with the cases.
“Shellshocked, that is how the last staff member left,” said Ms O’Brien, adding that staff feel as though they are failing or they are drowning.
As an employer, Ms O’Brien said she does not want to recruit another worker and send them “out into that war” knowing they too will burn out in about a year’s time.
Saoirse is calling for greater supports, more refuge spaces, provision of skilled workers, and better accessibility to services for women who find themselves and their homes threatened by violence.
“Every Government has said it is a shame, it is a stain on our society, but they have done nothing about it,” said Ms de Nortúin.
“We can’t keep saying that this is what it’s like, this isn’t what it should be like.”
- If you are experiencing violence and abuse in your relationship, family or home, contact Saoirse’s 24-hour Freephone Helpline 1800 911 221
