With the recent changes in the political landscape of Northern Ireland, violence on the streets has become less routine and there are hopes it may disappear completely. However, many women living in the North are convinced the violence has not gone away - it has just moved indoors to the private domain of the province's living rooms, kitchens and bedrooms.

Anecdotal evidence is borne out by the soaring number of reported cases of domestic violence since the ceasefires. In the three-month period between April and July of this year, the Women's Aid helpline in Belfast received a record 1,351 calls compared to the previous year when, over a 12-month period, a total of 2,426 calls was logged.

Last year 13,484 women called Women's Aid advice centres and refuges throughout the North.

While some agencies working with victims of domestic abuse feel the violence of the last 30 years has been redirected inwards to the home, others believe the increased numbers are a result of changes in the social and political climate which have enabled women to report offences.

"Women have felt more free to come forward," says Edel Quinn of the Women's Support Network in Belfast. "In the past, women were in a very difficult position. They couldn't go to one side or the other. They didn't want to report offences to the security forces, and they often couldn't go to the paramilitaries because either they were the same men who were perpetrating the offences, or they were representing the men committing the offences. You could be put out of your area. Now there is less conflict, women feel the security forces will protect them."

The helpline calls may be only the tip of the iceberg, she says. "There are no statistics on the woman who is too busy protecting the kids to make a call, or the woman whose phone has been pulled out of the wall."

When considering statistics, Quinn warns that the length of time it can take a woman to report a violent incident should be taken into account.

"Reporting is a very big step. Women need a lot of encouragement and support. First they have to admit it to themselves, then they usually talk to another woman about it and the final step is going to the police." Therefore, when a woman calls the helpline or goes to the police, the domestic abuse she is reporting may have occurred some time earlier.

Other countries in post-conflict situations, such as South Africa and Bosnia, are said to be experiencing a similar upsurge in reported cases of domestic violence.

The Women's Support Network, which is involved in an exchange project of women working across the traditional divide in conflict situations, recently met a group of women from Bosnia.

Quinn says: "I asked them if the problem has always existed and they said `yes' but that there has been an increase since the war."

While men are responsible for their violent behaviour, they have their own problems, says Quinn: "Being involved in a conflict situation, whether as a perpetrator or on the receiving end, takes its toll.

These men are then farmed back out into society without debriefing or counselling. What we need is a national programme to take violence out of society."

Although doubts have been expressed about whether, in a post-conflict situation, the RUC is equipped to deal with domestic violence, women's groups acknowledge and support the improved service provided by the police.

Through the Northern Ireland Forum on Domestic Violence, the RUC liaises with relevant government departments, the probation service and voluntary agencies, such as Women's Aid, Victim Support and Rape Crisis.

According to Eileen Calder of the Belfast Rape Crisis Centre: "The RUC has greatly improved sensitivity and we now actively encourage women to report abuse to the police. But I believe there is also an increasing level of violence and abuse, not just an increase in reporting." With the recent changed political circumstances, men who had violent or abusive tendencies no longer have an outlet for them through paramilitary activity, she says. Calder points out that more women are raped at gunpoint in the North than in England and Wales.

"Decommissioning is not a red herring. We need demilitarisation of society and it's important to know where the guns are going."

Constable Karen Porter of the RUC's Community Affairs unit attributes the current increase in the reporting of incidents, to the domestic violence officer scheme which was set up last September. "We have gained women's confidence, even in areas which are not seen as particularly pro-police. Reporting has risen in both communities."

Under the scheme, specially-trained domestic violence officers (two-thirds of whom are female) make contact with victims, offering support and information.

In Mount Pottinger, East Belfast, 70 referrals a month are received while in Newry, the officer deals with 50-60 incidents a month.

"Since the Women's Aid helpline was established in 1995, calls have increased steadily - there has never been a decrease," says the regional co-ordinator of Northern Ireland's Women's Aid Federation, Angela Courtney. "It's hard to quantify why more cases are reported, but since the first ceasefire, there has been more training of the police, more recognition of the problem and more reporting by the media."

However, she sees a definite link between violence in the home and a high level of violence in society: "The issues are the same: domination, power and control. Violence has become a way of life. There is an inability to negotiate and also an acceptance of violence as a way of solving problems. The underlying value-base is the same - you can't have the brutalisation of society for 30 years without it causing a change in attitudes."