'Every time a garda goes to a domestic violence call, he is going to a potential murder,' says Garda Colm Dempsey. Observing at first-hand the lack of help for victims of violent partners, he has embarked on a personal crusade to find ways of improving services for such people, writes Elaine Keogh.

It could be any house in any part of Ireland but this time it was the home of an eight-year-old girl. Her father was in the process of beating up her mother. The girl ran between her mother and father, and his next blow struck her. The father bent down, picked her up and hung her by her clothes off a nail in the wall, then went back and hit his wife again.

Speak to anyone about domestic violence and the familiar saying that you never know what goes on behind closed doors becomes a fact.

"It is estimated that every week in the UK two women are murdered as a result of domestic violence. It is also estimated that only one in 20 victims report domestic violence in the UK, and I wouldn't be surprised if the true figure for Ireland was similar," says Colm Dempsey, who works as a garda in Dundalk, but who has spent the last seven years devoting an enormous amount of personal time and resources to studying the area of domestic violence.

"Every time a garda goes to a domestic violence call, he or she is going to a potential murder," he states matter of factly.

His interest and knowledge in the area has grown since 1995, when he went to the Garda College in Templemore and completed a week-long course dealing with violence against women and children.

He began to look more closely at the area of domestic violence and the role of the Garda and the justice system. "I became alarmed at the number of court orders victims had taken out, and sometimes there would be multiple orders granted by the court." Generally barring or safety orders, they can only be rescinded by the courts. There are a percentage of those who secure the court order - predominantly women - who then allow the abuser back into the home. However, once the order is in place, the abuser can be arrested for breaching it. Those women that do go back to the court and ask for the order to be rescinded or lifted are, Dempsey believes, doing so out of intimidation.

"In the US, more than two million women a year are treated in hospital because of domestic violence; only half that figure are injured in road traffic accidents. There are 130,000 women treated for rape, and this is just what is reported; I believe that fear is a huge factor in under-reporting."

He says the victim will only go and seek help "after an average of five incidents of domestic violence. That means there are crimes going on that are not reported, and the incidents that are reported will not be the most serious ones". That may seem contradictory; one would presume that the most serious incidents are the ones that provoke outside intervention. Not necessarily. "Let me give you an example: one woman tolerated physical abuse up to and including rape and only contacted the local Women's Aid centre when her partner put her child in danger."

The role of the Garda in such situations is limited; the force is there to ensure the law is enforced and that can mean depending on the victim of ongoing, often insidious violence, to make a complaint and be prepared to follow it through to court.

If the abuser is also the money-winner and owns the home, calling the Garda is not the answer - in fact it can inflame a situation.

Demspey continued to pursue information about the best response to domestic violence. "I attended conferences and made tremendous contacts." As a result he has completed a course in child protection (the earlier example indicates how the protection of children and of victims of domestic violence often go hand-in-hand), and a third-level UK course on domestic violence. Then he went to Duluth, Minnesota in the US, the home of the Duluth Domestic Violence Intervention Project (DVIP), widely recognised as a model in how to combat domestic violence.

It was established in 1980, after the city was shaken by revelations about the abuse a woman had tolerated before she shot and killed her violent husband. The police had called to her home 42 times in response to emergency calls from her. She had left home seven times with her three children. The failures of the system to protect a victim like her and prevent what happened led to the DVIP.

This course, called Conducting a Community Safety and Accountability Audit, "was about reviewing cases coming through the courts and identifies the gaps in the system in service provision. For example, it is fine to say the gardaí are doing a good job up to a point, but that point must link up to a follow-up service. The unfortunate thing is people fall through these gaps, and unless we close those gaps, they will be very reluctant to go back into the system again." And the criminal justice system, he says, just attends to the problem, but doesn't solve it.

"We have to focus on changing the system, not the victim; the victim will know what he or she needs, and the multi-agency system should be responsive to those needs." There are a number of initiatives that could be taken to bridge those gaps and ease the crisis. He supports the use of court advocates.

"When an abuser is arrested and brought to jail in the US, there is an on-call advocate. This is a civilian that the police notifies who will go to the victim and stay there, explain what is going on and liaise with other agencies."

ALTHOUGH Women's Aid provides the victims with someone who can accompany them to court, because domestic violence cases are heard in camera - not open to the public, press or anyone other than those directly involved - victims may have to attend on their own, except for their solicitor.

Dempsey also thinks there should be domestic violence liaison officers in each garda district: "someone who would be responsible for following up after a colleague attends a call, e.g. notifying the victim of the status of their case and referring to other agencies. There are 38 such officers in the Police Service of Northern Ireland".

An Garda Siochána has a stated policy on domestic violence, and "it was revised in 1997, and yet we are the only statutory agency with a policy on it. In all the research I have done, I haven't yet come across a health board with a public stated policy on domestic violence for all to see". Perhaps the single most important thing is to expand the multi-agency response.

In Austria, they have a "one-stop shop", where a victim can find the health service, the police, court advocates, and representatives from all the services to get all the information and assistance she needs at that time. "It is a fantastic system, very successful and costs nothing." Nevertheless, Dempsey believes that, even with the best responses and support available, the only solution that will really prevent domestic violence must address the abuser.

'UNTIL we make abusers accountable for what they are doing, we are always going to be playing catch-up." According to statistics from the World Health Organisation, 25 per cent of women randomly sampled in the London Borough of Islington had been punched or slapped by a partner or ex-partner. In India, up to 45 per cent of married men acknowledge physically abusing their wives; and in Kenya, 42 per cent of married women reported being beaten, with 58 per cent of those saying it happened more than once.

"There are children in Irish homes watching family violence, and when they watch people who supposedly love each other be brutal to each other, they are going to accept it as a way of life," Dempsey concludes.

GARDAÍ can only work within legislation. The main laws relied upon are the Domestic Violence Act 1996 and the Non-fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997.

Every domestic violence call is recorded and forwarded to the national Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit based in Dublin.

Gardaí are powerless to act if they believe there is emotional or psychological abuse.

"You see people with their self-esteem knocked, that can cause depression and possibly suicide," says Garda Colm Dempsey. "All we can do is assess the situation as best we can and see what legislation is at our disposal.

"Really, we need to see an assault to have power of arrest - unless, for example, a barring order has been broken. Otherwise there is very little we can do."

Women's Aid National Helpline, tel: 1800-341900. Dundalk Women's Aid, tel: 042-93-33244