Domestic violence 'abhorrent' - Minister

Perpetrators of domestic violence must be made to face up to their actions, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said today.

Speaking at the opening of a two-day conference at Waterford Institute of Technology, the Minister said that domestic violence has serious consequences for victims and the wider society.

Hosted by Cosc - the national office for the prevention of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence - the conference will hear from academics and practitioners in the US, Britain, Australia and Canada.

Over 150 delegates are attending the conference, which is the first of its kind ever held in Ireland. The conference covers issues across the justice, health and housing sectors, and looks at responses implemented in other jurisdictions.

Minister Ahern told delegates that "all levels of domestic abuse are abhorrent to a civilised society".

He said that it was time to make it easier for victims to report domestic violence incidents and to make perpetrators face up to their crimes and change their behaviour.

"All of us play a role in ensuring that victims of domestic violence feel safe in seeking assistance and that we must be clear and unambiguous at all times in our message to perpetrators: domestic violence is a crime," he added.

Figures compiled for the National Crime Council in 2005 indicate that 29 per cent of women and 26 per cent of men have experienced some kind of domestic abuse.

In the region of 213,000 women and 88,000 men in Ireland have been severely abused by a partner at some point in their lives. However, the National Crime Council's figures show that less than 25 per cent of victims report such incidents.

Other speakers at the two-day conference include Prof Marianne Hester, Bristol University; Prof Desmond O'Neill, chairman, Elder Abuse National Implementation Group and Linda Regan from the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit, London Metropolitan University.