NOTEBOOK by BILL HEANEY
In West Dunbartonshire, we have a disgraceful record for domestic violence especially but not exclusively in our deprived communities of which, mainly because of alcohol, drugs, poverty and the cost of living crisis, we have many.
However, today it has been revealed that other parts of Europe are every bit as badly off in this regard, if not worse, than we are here.
“Zero tolerance” for domestic and gender-based violence was something of a mantra of the last Irish Government.
It has carried over to the current Coalition as well, with Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan on Tuesday launching the final implementation plan for its “Zero Tolerance” strategy aimed at tackling such violence.
West of Scotland MSP Pam Gosal will be interested to hear what’s going on in Dublin since she is pushing for changes in the law that will make the consequences more severe for the people guilty of this appalling crime.
And so too will Labour MSP Pauline McNeill, who joined with Ms Gosal to push in the Holyrood parliament for a new law, which will mean people found guilt of domestic abuse will be placed on a register similar to the one already in place for sex offenders.
Pam Gosal (left) and Pauline McNeill want a register of people found guilty of domestic abuse to be created by the Scottish Parliament.
In Scotland, the police were too tolerant of “wife assault” for most of last century. When called out to an altercation involving partners they would often write it off as “just a domestic” and divert their attention elsewhere.
But while tolerance levels among the politicians may have been at zero for years now, Women’s Aid in Ireland has revealed that it received the highest number of disclosures of domestic violence and abuse in its 50-year history last year.
As journalist Mary Carolan outlines in today’s Irish Times, more than 41,000 women reported abuse by their partner or ex-partner, and more than 5,000 reported abuse of children.
The 2024 figure for disclosures, up 17 per cent on 2023, included reports of assaults with weapons, constant surveillance, relentless put downs and humiliations.
There has been too sharing intimate images online, complete control over all family finances, sexual assault, rape and being threatened with theirs or their children’s lives.
Five women, the Women’s Aid report notes, died in violent circumstances in 2024.
The number and nature of the abuse disclosures is “utterly appalling” but is “just the tip of the iceberg”, said Women’s Aid chief executive Sarah Benson.
Specialist services are “overstretched and underfunded” and resourcing by Government and implementation of the Third National Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Strategy remains “crucial” to effectively reduce the scale and impact of violence against women and children in Ireland, the organisation said.
We need Ms Gosal’s bill to come into law here asap, not filibustered out on to the Holyrood lawns for political reasons.
Because the alarm has been raised by a Conservative, it doesn’t follow that it should not receive the support of all the other parties.
The final implementation plan for the Irish strategy published yesterday sets out 95 actions, including expansion of refuge accommodation.
Mr O’Callaghan said the plan “provides a focused roadmap to deliver on the whole-of-government commitment to a zero-tolerance approach to DSGBV (domestic, sexual and gender-based violence)”.
He added: “I am committed to building on what has already been achieved, and to strengthening implementation and identifying the actions we need to take now and where we need to go next to prepare a clear pathway toward the fourth national strategy.”
A test of whether the Irish Government’s efforts to tackle the scourge of domestic violence are having an impact will be the kind of data published by Women’s Aid.
And whether the shocking level of abuse the most recent data details falls instead of rises to new record levels.
The closure of Clydebank Women’s Aid was revealed here in the past few weeks because of lack of funding.
This is not something that should fall victim to council budget cuts. Or parliamentry passing the buck as to whose responsibility it is to deal with the matter.
These figures need to drop urgently for the sake of women and children in West Dunbartonshire.
Top of page picture: Pam Gosal MSP (third from right) giving a talk to campaigners against domestic abuse in Edinburgh.