Madam, - According to a report in your edition of October 5th, Women's Aid published a report the previous day giving statistics on calls to its helpline and called for an additional €70,000 annually from the Government to address the problem.
Minister for Equality Frank Fahy responded immediately by giving a commitment to find the money as quickly as possible.
His prompt and positive response to the women's support group contrasts sharply with the manner in which he responded to Amen's request for funding for services for male victims.
On September 21st Amen met Mr Fahy. While he did not give us an outright rejection it was made clear that it was highly unlikely we would receive any ongoing Government funding to provide support for male victims of domestic abuse.
At present Amen provides a very limited service for male victims, with a minimal contribution from Government, which is effectively subsidised by voluntary work, in some cases at considerable expense in terms of earnings forgone by those who provide the service.
Services for female victims receive more than €20 million annually from various Government Departments; services for male victims get less than 1 per cent of this amount. This indefensible discrimination against men should be seen in the context of the recent report on domestic violence (launched by Mr Fahy) published by the National Crime Council (NCC) in association with the Economic and Social Research Institute. The headline findings of that report are:
(a) 15 per cent of women and 6 per cent of men suffer severe domestic abuse.
(b) 29 per cent of women and 26 per cent of men suffer domestic abuse when severe and minor abuse are combined.
(c) 13 per cent of women and 13 per cent of men suffer physical abuse.
(d) 29 per cent of women (one in three) and only 5 per cent of men (one in 20) report to the Garda.
(e) 49 per cent of admissions to women's refuges are Travellers (according to the 2002 census, Travellers account for just 0.6 per cent of the entire population).
(f) Of those turned away from refuges, 46 per cent were for reasons other than the refuges being full.
The results relating to gender prevalence broadly reflect the findings of the three other two-sex studies carried out in this country (for Accord, Marriage and Relationship Counselling Services and the Department of Health).
The Minister for Equality's double standards in dealing with male victims and female victims respectively raises serious questions about his understanding of the concept of equality and is another example of the Government appeasing the powerful and treating the powerless with contempt. It is another case of giving to the "haves" and denying the "have-nots".
Mr Fahy is also reported as stating that "he would be discussing overall funding for dealing with violence against women within the Cabinet".
Despite the findings of the NCC report it appears that the Government is determined to continue with its exclusive, sexist approach to the issue of domestic violence. - Yours, etc,
MARY T CLEARY, Amen, St Anne's Resource Centre, Railway Street, Navan, Co Meath.