An official national study will establish, for the first time, the true scale of domestic abuse in Ireland. It is anticipated that the number of people who endure violence from an intimate partner will exceed figures reported to frontline services and An Garda Síochána.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) and Cuan, the State agency for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, are working on a new survey on domestic violence. The results are expected in 2028 following the survey going live in 2027.
It will produce official statistics on the prevalence of domestic abuse in Ireland. It is widely understood that existing figures based on the number of people who report domestic abuse underestimates the true scale of the problem, as many people never seek support or report their partner to the authorities.
Other surveys, carried out over the years in Ireland, estimate that between 20 and 30 per cent of people have reported experiencing domestic abuse from an intimate partner.
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Cuan, the CSO and the Department of Justice will develop the new study in 2026, with a plan to carry out a pilot test for it later next year. The domestic abuse study will be based on the existing sexual violence study, which was set up by the CSO in 2022.
That study was the first national survey into the prevalence of sexual violence in Ireland in 21 years. It found 40 per cent of adults in Ireland had experienced some form of sexual violence in their lifetime, including 52 per cent of women and 28 per cent of men. It also concluded that 18 per cent of women and 3 per cent of men had experienced rape as an adult. The same landmark research also found 29 per cent of adults had experienced sexual violence as a child.
A spokesman for the CSO said it is working with Cuan and the Department of Justice “on a new survey that will produce statistics on the pattern and prevalence of gender-based and domestic violence in Ireland”.
The spokesman added: “The new survey is one of the actions outlined in the implementation plan for Zero Tolerance, the Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence. It will also align with the data needs identified by the 2014 Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention.”
In 2020, Women’s Aid carried out a survey which found one in five women had experienced domestic violence. Last year, the organisation received the highest number of disclosures of domestic violence and abuse in its 50-year history. According to its annual report, 41,000 women reported abuse by a current or former partner, and more than 5,000 reported abuse of children.
A European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) study carried out this year said that 35 per cent of women in Ireland had experienced psychological, physical or sexual abuse from an intimate partner.
It is understood Cuan has estimated that the 78 frontline services it funds will have supported 44,000 men, women and children this year. An Garda Síochána had 61,000 domestic violence-related contacts in 2024, which was a 9 per cent increase on 2023.
