Domestic abuse: reports to charity at record high in Ireland

The charity’s definition of domestic abuse includes reports about physical, emotional and sexual abuse, as well as economic control.

Its figures come from 28,638 contacts by individuals to its national and regional support services last year.

Sarah Benson, chief executive of Women’s Aid, said: “We know that so many more women suffer alone, in silence and without specialist support.

“Most of the women contacting the Women’s Aid National Freephone Helpline and regional face-to-face services disclosed that they were being subjected to and threatened with multiple forms of abuse at the same time, which constitutes coercive control by a current or former male intimate partner.”

Coercive control is defined by the charity to be an act or pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish or frighten their victim.