Sir, - As founder and national co-ordinator of Amen, I take grave exception to the inference in Sinead O'Keeffe's letter (April 21st) when she poses the question, "When will Amen and its supporters realise that increasing awareness of male victims of domestic violence does not require the denial of the reality that domestic violence against women is widespread and endemic in our society?"
Neither I nor any member of Amen has ever said or done anything designed to undermine, deny or diminish the reality of female victims of domestic abuse. On the contrary, since setting up Amen I have constantly stated that our work with male victims of domestic abuse does not in any way undermine the plight of abused women. This is on record. Writing in the Farmers' Journal after one of our conferences, Ms Alison Healy said: "Mary Cleary took every opportunity to point out that her work was not an attempt to deny that women suffered from domestic violence." On the other hand, there are many in the wider feminist movement who seek to deny the reality of the male victim. I challenge Ms O'Keeffe to quote any statement I have ever made which would justify her insinuation.
I agree with Ms O'Keeffe's statement that "domestic violence - against men and women - is hugely under-reported; therefore the exact proportion and level of such violence is not known." This viewpoint was supported by Mary Wallace TD at the opening of our recent conference, "It's Also a Crime to Beat a Man", when she said she was "aware that incidents are underreported" and that "there can be particular difficulties for men in reporting incidents of domestic violence and in the way that elements of society deals with such reports". These difficulties are exacerbated by the attitudes of people who seek to use the issue as a weapon in a ridiculous and destructive gender war. would do well to heed the words of Mary Wallace who also said that she considers ["]that the actions of some in seeking to demonise the other gender, instead of dealing with the issue of the perpetrators of violence, only serves the perpetrators and does nothing to further the cause of those they claim to be representing *SDA the victims["]. Our view is that all violence against all persons is a crime and that victims should not be discriminated against because of their gender.
Ms O'Keeffe begins with the allegation that John Waters (Opinion, April 17th) sought to undermine or deny the prevalence of domestic violence against women in this country. Nowhere in his article does John Waters make any comment regarding the prevalence of domestic violence in this country. or }denies as she alleges. - Yours, etc.,
Mary T. Cleary, Co-ordinator, Amen, Brew's Hill, Navan, Co Meath.