Safe Ireland’s new report ‘In just one day’, which took a 24 hour snapshot of domestic violence in the country, revealed that on November 4 2009, Mayo Women’s Support Service gave 21 women and 25 children a variety of vital supports including accommodation, advocacy, information, accompaniments, and help-line calls from Mayo Women’s Support Services.
The annual figures of the service for 2009 show that over 200 individual women used the service, there were 180 new referrals, and 49 women and 103 children stayed in refuge accommodation with a total of 2,060 bed-nights.
Josephine McGroarty of Mayo Women’s Support Service said that families experiencing domestic violence are running a high risk of being caught in the trap of recession, poverty, and lack of options, and pointed specifically to the direct link between domestic violence and homelessness. “These figures underline the reality of what we are working with on an average day and the stressful and vulnerable conditions women and children are living with, including the incredible stress of being homeless,” she added.
