Sir, - A report in your edition of November 27th headed "Women's groups now working in a hostile environment" quoted Ms Mary Kelly of the National Women's Council as saying there was a "wave of anti-woman misinformation being disseminated through certain media columns and by so-called men's groups".
It is incumbent on Ms Kelly to name the "so-called men's groups" that are being accused of disseminating anti-woman information.
Amen, the largest men's support group in the country (not a so-called men's group), has never disseminated anti-woman misinformation. We have never denied that women, as well as men, are victims of domestic violence and over the past few years Amen has done more than most to counter the misinformation and myths surrounding the issue of domestic violence.
It is ironic that in the same report Women's Aid is quoted as reiterating one of the most discredited pieces of misinformation on this subject - that "Irish and International research showed that more than 90 per cent of violent attacks were perpetrated by men". This is totally untrue. All balanced two-sex studies, both in Ireland and abroad, show that the prevalence of domestic violence among men and women, is broadly similar and that both men and women are about equally likely to initiate domestic violence. Almost 100 such studies are listed on the Amen website (www.amen.ie).
Approximately two years ago Mr Micheβl Martin, Minister for Health and Children, commissioned research to find out what studies tell us about domestic violence. That report has been on his desk since October last year but has still not been released. Both Mr Martin and the Minister of State, Ms Mary Wallace, know that the Amen position as outlined above is correct and that the assertion by Women's Aid is wrong! There is now a moral imperative on both Ministers to speak out clearly and unequivocally about what they know to be true.
The only two-sex studies carried out in Ireland which looked at the prevalence of domestic violence were the recent studies carried out for the Marriage and Relationship Counselling Service and for Accord. The MRCS study showed that women are, in fact, more likely than men to perpetrate domestic violence.
This report, based on a survey of 530 clients of MRCS, found that where domestic violence occurs mutual violence accounts for 33 per cent of cases, female perpetrated violence accounts for 41 per cent and male perpetrated violence for 26 per cent. It should be noted that the majority (59 per cent) of those interviewed were women and also that the vast majority of women (85 per cent) and men (94 per cent) agreed with their partners' responses.
The research carried out for Accord has produced similar results in relation to domestic violence.
On the question of "working in a hostile environment" I believe that women's groups have been allowed to go unchallenged for so long that they are unable to deal with challenge at this stage. If they really want to know what it is like to work in a hostile environment they should trying doing something that is politically incorrect, such as defending men's rights or standing up for the truth. - Yours, etc.,
Mary T. Cleary, Amen, Brew's Hill, Navan, Co Meath.