![\"Justice](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/c3a2b51c-e582-49db-ab26-d240ae841d07.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\u2018Significant increases\u2019 in several rural counties, as Justice Minister says people are \u2018more confident about coming forward\u2019\n<\/p>\n
The figures show an increase of 3pc across the country in the past year. However, garda\u00ed reported more significant increases in domestic abuse call-outs in several rural counties.<\/p>\n
They increased by 16pc in the Kerry garda division, and 15pc in the Clare and Tipperary and in the Laois\/Offaly divisions.<\/p>\n
The number of domestic abuse call-outs also increased in Wexford\/Wicklow by 8pc, Cork city and county by 7pc, and in Louth, Cavan and Monaghan by 4pc. Justice Minister Jim O\u2019Callaghan said \u201cany increase in reported cases of domestic violence is deeply concerning\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, he said the steady increase over the years may also be evidence that more people feel confident in coming forward to report abuse, given a number of awareness campaigns.<\/p>\n
The data showed a national increase of 2.9pc year on year, and an increase of around 34pc since 2021. The figures were obtained by Aont\u00fa in response to parliamentary question.<\/p>\n
\u200bThey include domestic abuse calls recorded on the Pulse system in the year to February 24, 2026, and include incidents such as breaches of barring orders, safety orders and protection orders.<\/p>\n
They show that garda\u00ed were called out to domestic abuse incidents 67,399 times last year.<\/p>\n
In contrast, garda\u00ed were called out 50,060 times in 2021, rising to 60,367 in 2023.<\/p>\n
Aont\u00fa senator, Sarah O\u2019Reilly, said the rise in domestic violence calls likely reflects \u201ca higher level of abuse within society\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said the increase was ‘deeply concerning’. Photo: PA<\/p>\n
\u201cThe continued rise of domestic violence call-outs must be taken seriously. It is dangerous for us as a society to ever write it off as simply a sign of increased confidence of victims to call for help,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Calls increased by 36pc overall, from 2021 to 2025.<\/p>\n
Referring to the \u201cincreasing number of women being murdered in recent years\u201d, Ms O\u2019Reilly said \u201ca murder victim is more likely to be a domestic homicide than a gangland killing\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t dismiss these figures or assume what they mean, because there\u2019s such a strong link. We need analysis to interpret them fully.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Callaghan said the figures record a \u201csteady increase\u201d in reported calls, year-on-year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile any increase in reported cases of domestic violence is deeply concerning, there is evidence that a greater number of people feel more confident to come forward with a criminal complaint, share their experience and seek the support they have a right to expect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough the volume is of great concern, this increased confidence is welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018Significant increases\u2019 in several rural counties, as Justice Minister says people are \u2018more confident about coming forward\u2019 The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45,16253,61,60,6134,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-417966","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-aontu","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-maeve-sheehan","13":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}