THIS WEEK is International Women's Week, but it is more a time for reflection than celebration with the news that two more women have been brutally murdered against a backdrop of escalating violence against females.
Last year was notable for the number of violent deaths. Even as 1996 petered out, a Sri Lankan woman was being murdered in her Dublin city-centre apartment, bringing the record total of women who died in this way to 18.
So far this year there have been six violent deaths - three men and now three women. Apart from yesterday's murders, gardai are investigating the death of Mrs Miriam O'Donoghue (42), of Mulhuddart, Co Dublin, in January.
Ms Noreen Byrne of the National Women's Council said the question of safety was now uppermost in women's minds, and rights meant little if personal security was a constant worry. "I think it is a bit of a myth if we do not feel safe. Feeling safe is a very basic right," she said.
"We are constantly talking about it and constantly on guard, going up the street, getting into the car, watching out all the time. We do not feel safe, we do not feel protected," Ms Byrne said.
Every time a woman was murdered, it was a shock, and the perception was that there was more violence against women than ever before.
"Violence against women gives them a very powerful message that they are not equal to men because we are living in fear of being attacked all the time, right across age and social class," she said.
The issue needed to be tackled by sending out a strong message that society had no tolerance of violence against women.
Ms Roisin McDermott of Women's Aid said that everyone had a responsibility for increasing violence. Too often in domestic violence situations people would make excuses for the offending male.
"We do not actually speak out, any of us, men or women. We very rarely say anything."