Government must do more to protect women and children from men’s violence

Published: Monday, March 04, 2019

In the lead up to International Women’s Day this Friday, the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) has today called on the Government to scale up its response to men’s violence against women.

Orla O’Connor, Director of NWCI said,

“Over the past week, from the bravery of Jacqueline Connolly and Mary Coll in speaking out about the murder of their daughter Clodagh, to the killing of Cathy Ward, the third woman this year to be killed in her own home, it is clear that the Government is not dealing with the scale of the problem of violence against women, and is not learning lessons to make life safer for women and children.”

“Ahead of International Women’s Day on Friday, we are calling on the Government to scale up its response to violence against women, and better protect women and children. A key part of this involves the Government committing to multi-agency domestic homicide reviews, when a woman is killed in her own home. 61% of women killed in Ireland are killed in their own home. All the interviews with Jacqueline Connolly and Mary Coll, the sister and mother of Clodagh have underlined the importance of multi-agency domestic homicide reviews for the family, in their search for answers, and to work towards the eventual eradication of these crimes. In other jurisdictions, Domestic Homicide Reviews are systematic multi-agency reviews which are used to improve risk assessment and management and to identify gaps in policy and practice.”

Orla O’Connor concluded,

“Underpinning our response to all instances of violence against women must be the comprehensive framework that is provided for under the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, or the Istanbul Convention, as it is more commonly known. NWCI is calling on the Government to ratify the Convention on International Women’s Day."

“This International Women’s Week,  we need the Government to commit to systemic and institutional change needed to facilitate the protection of women and to match our response to the scale and the complexity of violence against women -  we need real political leadership on this issue.”

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For more information, please contact Sarah Clarkin, Communications Officer, 085 8619087.