Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 July 2023
411. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Justice if she will seek the figures on breaches for domestic violence orders for the years 2021 to dates for the greater Drogheda and surrounds, including Bettystown, Mosney, Collon and Dunleer; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32113/23]
View answerI would like to assure the Deputy that both Commissioner Harris and I are committed to combatting all forms of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and to ensuring that An Garda Síochána is resourced to provide support to victims of this terrible crime.
Twelve months ago we published our Zero Tolerance strategy. It is an ambitious five-year programme of reform to achieve a society which does not accept domestic violence or the attitudes which underpin it.
The €363 million strategy is built on four pillars – Protection, Prevention, Prosecution and Policy Co-ordination – and the accompanying implementation plan contains 144 detailed actions to be implemented through new oversight structures.
As the Deputy may be aware, the nationwide roll-out of Divisional Protective Service Units (DPSUs), which was an action under both the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland and ‘Supporting a Victim's Journey’, has been completed.
There is now a DPSU in every Garda division across the country.
This ensures that when vulnerable victims of crimes such as domestic abuse and sexual violence present to Gardaí, they are met with a consistently high standard of specialist, sensitive, professional and expert assistance.
In relation to the specific information sought, a search of the PULSE database was conducted on the 28th June 2023 for incidents of the following types:
• Breach of Barring Order
• Breach of Emergency Barring Order
• Breach of Interim Barring Order
• Breach of Protection Order
• Breach of Safety Order
which were reported during the period 01/01/2021 – 28/06/2023.
The following stations were included in the search and return to meet the scope of the request:
- Drogheda; Collon; Dunleer; Laytown.
The number of incidents by type and by year in the period 2021 to the 28th of June 2023 is shown in the table below.
|
Incident Type |
2021 |
2022 |
20231 |
Grand Total |
|
Breach of Emergency Barring Order |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
Breach of Barring Order/Interim Barring Order* |
13 |
12 |
21 |
46 |
|
Breach of Protection Order |
51 |
47 |
26 |
124 |
|
Breach of Safety Order |
45 |
42 |
18 |
105 |
1 - Up to 28/06/2023
* - Incident types have been merged to mitigate the risk of identifying parties where numbers are low
Additional Information
Incident data is based upon operational data from the PULSE system as was available at 01:00 on 28/06/2023 and is liable to change. Crime counting rules have not been applied, to reflect all recorded incidents.
