Ireland stands by and does nothing about domestic violence

What would you do? That is the question underpinning a new campaign on domestic and sexual violence. It aims to “empower” and “support” bystanders to intervene and help stop domestic violence. “This campaign calls on us as relatives, friends, neighbours, bystanders, and witnesses, to collectively say that domestic violence is not right and must stop.”

According to the press release from the Department of Justice and Equality, the campaign is an opportunity for us to start a conversation about what we would do if we came across situations such as those depicted in the TV and radio ads.

The campaign will cost nearly one million euro over the next two years and is a waste of taxpayers’ money because the vast majority of citizens already know about domestic violence. Surveys have shown that 98 per cent of Irish adults are aware of domestic violence and of organisations that can help.

Despite high levels of awareness few bystanders intervene. There are several reasons for this including fear of retaliation.

Witnesses of domestic violence believe interventions by bystanders may make things worse. Victim-blaming does not help either. Many people believe that victims are able leave the situation and ask “why does she/he stay”.

The probability of help is inversely related to the number of bystanders. The greater the number of bystanders the less likely it is that any one of them will help. However, the main reason for non-intervention is that there are few role models of people who have been active, helpful bystanders. Ireland has no history of intervening to help people on the receiving end of injustices.

In fact, we are a nation of passive bystanders. Since the foundation of the State those in powerful positions have turned blind eyes to injustices and crimes perpetrated against fellow citizens.

In the past, children were abused in orphanages and industrial schools, women were dumped in Magdalene laundries and mother and baby homes, and huge numbers of men and women were incarcerated in mental institutions. In all cases there were plenty of bystanders but few intervened.

Today, people are still being abused in homes and residential centres. Áras Attracta in Swinford, County Mayo, cultivated an environment where carers thought sitting on a woman with an intellectual disability was “playful.” A bystander colleague told the woman to give the carer, Pat, “a hug”, to stress the point that the victim was at fault.

Whistle-blowers are victimised despite protected disclosure legislation. Perpetrators of domestic violence seem to be able to commit these crimes with impunity. Nearly one-third of Irish women and a quarter of men suffer domestic abuse when severe and minor incidents - whatever they are - are taken into account. Figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that breaches of domestic violence court orders have nearly doubled in the past 10 years.

The “What would you do campaign” will not change blind-eye turning habits. More is needed to stop domestic violence. Bystanders would not have to intervene if the criminal justice system, including the Gardaí and judges, were doing their jobs properly.

We do not even know the extent of the problem because domestic violence incidents are included with non-domestic assaults. Separate figures do not exist. A 2014 Garda Inspectorate report identified deficits in the recording of domestic violence. According to the CSO “no specific assessment of the quality of domestic violence incident recording has been conducted.” The CSO “does not publish such statistics because the data to compile quality statistics does not currently exist.” The UK and most EU countries, have been collating separate data on domestic violence for years.

Ireland recently signed the European Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence and is obliged to conduct “on a regular basis and at all levels, awareness-raising campaigns”. These campaigns must be run in “cooperation with national human rights institutions and equality bodies, civil society and NGOs.”

Although the latter were consulted and are partaking in the campaign the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission are not. Why not? As well as being a crime, domestic violence is a human rights issue. We do not need campaigns directed at bystanders. We need to see people in powerful positions doing something about domestic violence. We need campaigns about perpetrators, their behaviour, and how they are dealt with by the justice system. The Department of Justice and Equality and the Gardaí must get their own houses in order before telling bystanders what to do.