Almost 5,000 people, the vast majority of them women, sought protection from the courts in Dublin from violence in their families in the legal year which ended in July 1999.
Figures obtained yesterday by The Irish Times put the total at 4,891, an increase of about 12 per cent on the previous year, when 4,505 orders were sought.
Almost a quarter of the applications are made by common-law spouses - 1,042 in the year ending July 1999, compared with 1,004 the previous year.
There was an increase of 25 per cent in the number of parents seeking protection from their adult children, with 661 doing so in the year ending July 1999, compared with 433 the previous year.
The orders involved are barring orders, interim barring and protection orders and safety orders. They are sought in the District Court over violence in the home.
When an applicant goes to court, she (or he) initially seeks an interim barring order and a protection order, pending a full hearing seeking a barring order or a safety order. The barring order bans the abusive person from the home, while the safety order allows him (statistics show that the offenders are usually male) to live in the home on condition that he does not inflict violence on the other inhabitants. Breaches of these orders are a criminal offence.
Under legislation introduced in 1996 the categories of people against whom the orders could be sought were extended from spouses to include common-law spouses, adult children and others.
The orders most frequently sought in the Dublin area are protection and interim barring orders, of which 2,009 were applied for in the last legal year. Of these, 1,931 were granted, 39 were refused and 38 were withdrawn. Interim barring orders and protection orders are temporary measures and are usually granted.
Safety orders accounted for 899 applications, of which 492 were withdrawn, 23 refused and 357 granted. There were 1,983 applications for barring orders, of which 1,108 were withdrawn; 610 were granted and 56 were refused.