A record number of domestic violence incidents was reported to An Garda Síochána during Christmas week, when 1,600 calls for help were received.
That was a surge of about a third compared with an average week, with domestic violence call-outs already on track to increase 5-10 per cent this year after 61,000 calls were received in 2024, according to gardaí.
The Garda has also agreed, at the request of the Policing Authority, to study the cases of six women killed in homicides since the start of last month.
That report is to include any known previous threats to the victims and any previous contact they had with gardaí.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said the number of domestic violence incidents tended to increase during periods such as Christmas and Easter, and during the pandemic lockdowns, when families were together “and where there is actual no escape for the victim”.
“What has been so striking [about Christmas] is that it’s the largest number we’ve ever had in one week – 1,600 is a colossal number ... It’s a shocking number,” he said, speaking to the media after a public meeting of the Policing Authority in Dublin on Thursday.
In the “great majority” of cases the victims were women in their own home, causing “huge fear”, especially if there were children in the home.
[ Domestic abuse reports grew by 9% in 2024, Garda figures findOpens in new window ]
In any case where three calls were received from the same victim in three months, the investigation was upgraded and sent to a specialist unit, Mr Harris said.
He urged those people to tell someone about the abuse, or to reach out to agencies such as Women’s Aid if they could not contact gardaí, perhaps because they were being controlled.
Mr Harris also said the proliferation of very violent pornography, which was freely available on the internet, was now reflected in the nature of the some of the rapes that have been reported to the Garda in recent years. This was especially a feature in attacks on women who work in prostitution.
An “element” of some recent rape allegations was violence that was clearly “imitating violent pornography”.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis
