There was a 30 per cent increase in the number of calls to the Women's Aid helpline for victims of domestic abuse last year, the service's annual statistics show.
The helpline received 25,843 calls last year compared with 19,901 in 2004 and 14,972 in 2002.
Among the abuses suffered by women calling the line were being assaulted with sledgehammers and hurleys; being raped in front of their children; being made to re-enact pornography films while heavily pregnant; and being locked in a car that was then set alight.
"The statistics and the stories behind them make very grim reading once again," said Rachel Mullen, manager of policy and research at Women's Aid.
She said there had been no decrease in the severity of abuse and claimed pornography was having an increasing impact.
The most common abuser was a husband, partner, boyfriend or ex of the woman (67.5 per cent), followed by a male family member (13 per cent) and then a male other (8.5 per cent). Abuse was by another woman in 10.5 per cent of cases.
The proportion of calls that could not be answered has reached 40 per cent, compared with 26 per cent of calls in 2002.
Last year 10,504 calls were missed because the service was working to full capacity, which was a "29 per cent increase on the number of calls we could not answer in 2004," said Ms Mullen.
"While calls to the helpline grew by 10,871 between 2002 and 2005, funding of the service was effectively capped during the period," said Ms Mullen. Margaret Martin, director of the organisation, said it had been granted "about €600,000 a year for the past four years".
"Minister [of State at the Department of Justice] Frank Fahey was at the publication of the statistics last year and promised then to secure for us an additional €70,000. It was all we sought and with that we could have taken on an additional two workers for the helpline. Reminder letters were sent to the department but that funding was never forthcoming."
She said that when one looked at the statistics and the "horrendous stories" it was "dreadful that so many calls" were not being answered. "In some cases it has taken an enormous amount of time for the woman to work up the courage to call a helpline and if that call is not answered it is an awful setback," she said.
Ursula Regan, a family law solicitor and a member of the Women's Aid board, stressed the importance of answering as many calls as possible, given that some were from women who needed help immediately. "Two years ago I was on the helpline and I took a call from a woman who was several months pregnant and was being beaten by her partner," she said.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said that the Minister had been speaking at last year's event in his capacity as chair of the National Steering Committee on Violence Against Women. She said the department had provided some funding for Women's Aid and had raised the issue with the Health Service Executive.
