Increase in the number of women and children receiving refuge from domestic violence in Carlow

THE number of women in Carlow and Kilkenny who are seeking refuge from domestic violence increase by a fifth last year, new figures have revealed.

Amber Women’s Refuge, the refuge for Carlow and Kilkenny, has published its 2022 Annual Report, which details increases in the number of women and children receiving refuge from domestic violence throughout 2022.

It says a total of 45 women received refuge at Amber in 2022, an increase of 22% on the previous year’s figures.  In addition, 68 children received refuge, alongside their mothers, which represents an increase of 21% on 2021.  The majority of the women and children who sought refuge were from Carlow and Kilkenny.  

In 2022, 58 women seeking refuge could not receive refuge at Amber as the refuge was full. 

Other significant figures in Amber’s Annual Report for 2022 show the following....

246 women accessed support and information via the service’s 24/7 confidential Helpline 
45 women received Court Support, Preparation & Accompaniment to obtain court orders
40 women participated in Amber’s Group Support Programmes
25 mothers received Parenting support to help them with the challenges of parenting during or after an abusive relationship
16 children affected by domestic violence received one to one support
39 women received 246 counselling sessions

Commenting on the 2022 Annual Report, Lisa Morris, manager of Amber Women’s Refuge stated: “2022 was an extremely busy year for Amber, with increases in demand for many of our refuge and community-based services.  There was a 22% increase in the number of women participating in our Group Support Programmes.  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.” 

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Ms Morris added: “In some respects, we saw a return to pre Covid-19 levels of demand for some areas of our service, namely the number of calls received on our 24/7 Helpline, which decreased last year from the number of calls in 2021.  However, we found that while the number of calls decreased, women’s situations became increasingly complex, with extreme cases of financial abuse and coercive control hindering women and children from escaping abuse.  Uprooting their children’s routines and schooling also remained a key concern for women seeking refuge.”    

According Amber Women's Refuge, the current housing crisis is the single most critical barrier to women and children safely escaping violent homes and rebuilding their lives after abuse. 

"Throughout 2022, we saw the effects of this on the ground for local women and children.  The drastic decreases in both affordable rental accommodation and public housing remains a huge concern for victim-survivors of domestic abuse in Carlow and Kilkenny,” said Lisa Morris. 

Last year also saw the development, by Amber, of a suite of supports to assist businesses in Carlow and Kilkenny to develop workplace policies on domestic violence and abuse (DVA), put supports in place for their employees experiencing DVA and train HR/People Managers on spotting the signs, responding to disclosures of abuse and referring employees to specialist services. 

Last year, Amber’s One Million Stars project, the inclusive community arts project for raising awareness of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence (DSGBV), reached the milestone of over 150,000 stars woven by volunteer star weavers in 88 organisations across 22 counties, including Carlow. 

In May 2022, Amber hosted a Star Weave Jam in Leinster House, attended by 34 TDs and Senators from across the houses, representing an opportunity to ensure that the issue of violence against women remained top of mind for Government. 

“Reviewing the work of our service throughout 2022, I feel proud of all that has been achieved in supporting women and children who are victim-survivors of domestic abuse.  While funding remains a key concern, we look forward to the imminent launch of the new statutory agency tasked with tackling the scourge of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence (DSGBV) in our society and to the move, in line with recommendations in the Third National Strategy for DSGBV, to a multi-annual funding framework from the Department of Justice.  It is our hope that this move will result in frontline domestic abuse services being funded in a more sufficient and sustainable way,” concluded Lisa Morris.

Established in 1995, Amber Women’s Refuge provides emergency refuge accommodation to women and children in Carlow and Kilkenny who are victim-survivors of domestic violence and abuse. 

From bases in Tullow and Bagenalstown FRCs, Amber provides community-based support services in rural county Carlow to women and children living with or fleeing the serious crime of domestic abuse.  

Helpline numbers:

Amber Women’s Refuge: 0818 42 42 44

Carlow Women’s Aid: 1800 444 944

Men’s Aid Ireland: 01 554 3811