A women’s refuge in Galway receives more than four cries for help every day of the year from domestic abuse victims.
COPE Galway confirmed it answered over 1,700 calls to its 24-hour helpline in 2016 from women experiencing domestic abuse.
The charity’s figures tally with those presented by Galway Gardaí at successive Joint Policing Committee meetings in the city and county, which show crimes of a domestic nature are on the increase.
COPE Galway Waterside House, the only 24-hour accessible refuge in the West, provides refuge accommodation, information, support and court accompaniment to women and their children experiencing domestic violence.
As well as answering 1,709 support calls, COPE worked with 314 individual women and their 158 children experiencing domestic violence.
The service provided 720 outreach appointments and 161 court accompaniments. And COPE Galway has reiterated shocking stats that were previously released – that due to lack of space, the service was unable to accommodate 204 women with 246 children who requested refuge 249 times last year.
The latest helpline figures include all crisis calls from abused women looking for a safe place to stay, as well as return calls from those seeking ongoing support and information.
Wendy Heuston from Waterside House, which provides a service to women experiencing domestic abuse in Galway City and County, said: “It’s important for women to know that their call is confidential and that they can remain anonymous if they wish.
“Women are not always ready to take action when they first start to talk about what is happening but with the right support they can reach a place where they are clearer about the abuse. Talking a situation through can help them to decide in their own time what they want to do and what is right for them.”
For more on this story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune.
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