A NEW working group on violence against women is to report to the Government next February on measures to deal with the problem and help to prevent it.
The group, made up of representatives of Government Departments and agencies and the voluntary sector, held its first meeting yesterday. It is chaired by the Minister of State at the Department of the Tanaiste, Ms Eithne Fitzgerald.
"One quarter of all crimes committed every year in this country are crimes against women," she said. "A survey by Women's Aid, which was conducted last year, showed that 18 per cent - nearly one in five - women had been abused at some stage in their lives."
Women's Aid has welcomed the setting up of the group, pointing out that IS women were murdered or suffered violent deaths this year.
"Our society expresses its horror and revulsion at brutal attacks by strangers. Yet our society can appear to have an ambivalence about violence in the domestic setting," Ms Fitzgerald said.
The Minister added that, in the 20 years since the first women's refuge was set up, the services and responses of public bodies developed in a piecemeal and relatively haphazard way. Separate responses from the health boards, housing authorities and the criminal justice system needed to be welded into a coherent whole.
The working party would have two objectives, she said. First, it would examine ways to deliver the best possible service and support to women and children-who were victims of violence. Second, it would look at ways to reduce the incidence of violence through work with violent men, through education in non-violent ways of solving disputes and work with young people.
Asked if the Government would support any recommended increases in resources, she said: "You don't throw money at bad services. There will never be a refuge at every street corner. We must first examine whether the existing services are working properly together."
Ms Anne Crilly, who represents the Cork Rape Crisis Centre on the working group, said one response could be making counselling available on a medical card, instead of medication that abused women did not want. This would work out cheaper.
Father Padraig Greene, also a member of the working group, who represents the Family Life Centre in Boyle, Co Roscommon, stressed that violence against women and children was a problem for rural as well as urban areas. What was needed was more support.
"These women would have suffered a lot of isolation. One of our big areas of work is counselling and support. You see the second generation of abused women coming in. It is great to see young women breaking the cycle."