Surge in number of women seeking refuge from domestic violence in Kilkenny

The number of women seeking refuge from domestic violence surged locally last year, a newly published annual report from Amber Women’s Refuge has revealed.

Some 45 women received refuge at Amber in 2022, an increase of 22% on the previous year’s figures.

More than 1,500 Ukrainians now living in Kilkenny

As many as 58 women seeking refuge could not receive it at Amber last year as the refuge was full.

In 2022, 68 children received refuge, alongside their mothers, which represents an increase of 21% compared to 2021.

The majority of the women and children who sought refuge were from Kilkenny and Carlow.

Lisa Morris, Manager at Amber Women’s Refuge, described last year as ‘extremely busy’.

“There was a 22% increase in the number of women participating in our Group Support Programmes,” she said.

“These programmes are for women who are or have in the past experienced intimate partner violence.

“The number of counselling sessions received by women also increased by 14% from 2021, as women continued to seek to process the trauma of the abuse they had experienced.”

Recent figures obtained by the Kilkenny People from the gardaí have also shown a continual year-on-year Q1 rise in the number of reported domestic incidents across the Kilkenny and Thomastown garda districts.

Gardaí are hopeful that these figures will begin to plateau as more and more victims find the courage to report their abuse.
Gardaí are employing a ‘pro-arrest and charge policy’ for domestic incidents and operate a call-back policy to the victim within seven days