A 37 per cent increase in the recording of domestic disputes by the gardai for this year has been described as frightening by Deputy Catherine Connolly.
Deputy Connolly's comments come after the Garda report for the year date to revealed that there have been 436 incidents of domestic dispute (no offence disclosed ) for 2020, an increase from 318 for the same period last year.
Deputy Connolly said; "In relation to domestic violence, the figures are horrific. We have gone up again to 436. The wording domestic dispute always worries me. Very often this is serious violence and serious assault. I pay tribute to the gardai who have handled [these crimes] but the figures are absolutely frightening, in a country where we do not enough refuges or safe places for, by and large, women and children, some men of course.
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"Domestic dispute - no offence disclosed -What does that actually mean? Does that mean the women for various reasons decided not to pursue the situation with a charge or is it that she has no place to go or if she follows up on it she is going to be in even more trouble at home? To go from 318 to 436 is a huge jump."
Impact of Covid-19 on situation
Fianna Fáil councillor Mary Hoarde concurred with Deputy Connolly's sentiments saying the figures on domestic violence were very concerning and in the climate of Covid-19, people are spending longer at homes and is an area on which the authorities need to keep a close watch.
In response to the contributors' comments, Chief Superintendent Tom Curley said a contributing factor to the increase in crimes recorded was the increased time people were spending in closed spaces due to the lockdown.
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He also explained that domestic dispute - no offence disclosed is where the gardaí would receive a call from an injured party but a statement would not be given.
"We get a call about domestic dispute. We check if any orders are in place, breach of barring order or protection order or safety order. There were 49 cases [of these crimes] so there would be a prosecution in this instance because we would be in a position to take statement from injured party and follow through with prosecution.
"In relation to no offence disclosed, someone rings in, we call out, we do a callback, we do a second callback and a third callback if needs be [but] the injured party concerned will not make a statement. But the avenues of communication are open at that stage.
"If there is a second or third call, our system and policy for domestic violence, the superintendent has to view the investigation and give clear direction to the gardai on what has to be done.
Increase in number of rapes
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"I am quite happy in relation to policy procedures and laws of domestic incidents are strictly adhered to in the Galway division. Our percentages are 100 per cent with regards in number of days to call back and members to go along and carry out investigation."
The report also revealed that 49 crimes of breaching a barring order, safety order, and protection order were recorded for the year to date, the same number as last year.
The number of rapes recorded for 2020 was 15, an increase of one from last year with the recording of sexual assaults (not aggravated ) decreasing from 54 for the same period last year to 38 for 2020.
