Three women - Maya, Aishling, and Mary - are experiencing domestic violence and homelessness in Ireland due to a lack of emergency housing and refuge accommodation. Maya and her children had to leave the women's refuge after a few days. Aishling was refused housing in her new location. Mary has been sleeping in her car since February. The housing crisis leaves many domestic violence victims trapped in abusive relationships or homeless. Ireland has significantly fewer refuge spaces than recommended by European standards.

1. *Maya has been married for ten years and she suffers on-going
physical and emotional abuse from her husband, which has often
taken place in front of their children. During the last incident of
abuse he tried to beat their daughter and she prevented this by
standing in front of him. Maya was badly beaten. Maya and her
children left the family home and went to stay in a women’s ref-
uge. Unfortunately due to the lack of emergency accommodation
Maya had to leave after a couple of days she now has to choose
between hospitalisation or homelessness.
*Aishling’s husband was due to be released from prison and she
wished to move as she feared for her own safety and the safety of
her children. She moved to an area where no-one knows her and the
Community Welfare Officer agreed to pay her
rent allowance. However, when Aishling went
to the local authority to transfer her name to
their housing list she was refused as she has
no connection with the area. Now her and her
children are at risk.
*Mary experienced abuse to such an
extreme that she feared for her life and was
unable to remain living with her spouse. Every
day at 3 she rings the homeless agency to see
if there is any accommodation and has yet to
hear a positive response, she has been sleeping
in her car since February.
These are just a few women who endure
domestic violence every day in Ireland and
feel trapped in their abusive relationship
because of the housing crisis. In some areas of
the country, two- thirds of domestic violence
victims have no option to return to their
abusive partners due to a drastic shortage in
emergency refuges.
According to recommendations for emer-
gency housing for victims of domestic violence
from the Council of Europe, there should be
one refuge space per head of ten thousand
populations. Ireland is currently operating at
38% below the recommended level and the standard of refuge accom-
modation here is behind countries such as Bosnia- Herzegovina.
The Director of Woman’s Aid, Margaret Martin spoke to Grit
about the many factors that attribute to homelessness for domestic
violence victims.
“The whole issue is with housing. We know that there is 90,000
people currently on the waiting list for housing and there is a massive
volume of people who are experiencing the problem of homelessness
quiet apart from people who are actually in danger of because of being
in a relationship where they are under a serious level of threat.
“These people who are subject to violence for their spouse are in
a very different situation where people are saying to them all the time
‘leave, leave, leave’, without releasing that leaving can sometimes be
the most dangerous time for them,” explained Margaret Martin.
Women’s Aid is a leading national organisation that has been
working in Ireland to stop domestic violence against women and chil-
dren since 1974. The organisation aims to create a society that does
not accept violence against women. However the calls and demand for
Women Aid’s service has increased especially since the recession and
is making it more difficult to stretch the organisation’s limited funds.
“Women who experience domestic violence within their own
homes are in a ridiculous situation, for many they do not want to in-
volve the Gardaí, and the women who do involve the Gardaí, experi-
ence difficulties attaining a barring order from their abusive partner.”
A barring order is an order which
requires a violence person to leave the
family home. Less than 10% of barring orders
requested are issued, and the majority of
women who look for a barring order will get
a protection order while they wait.
Margaret explained how this means that
their partner doesn’t have to leave; he can’t
assault her, threat her or put her in fear.
“But if someone has assaulted you or
put you in fear for your safety a protection
order won’t stop you being frighten,” said
Margaret.
The housing crisis associated with
domestic violence is an issue that has been
pushed behind the curtains for years with
each government passing the problem on to
the next despite the recommendations from
the Council of Europe.
Margaret explained the organisation’s
exhaustion with the Government and the
cuts to refuge. “The European norm is based
on the population level in each country, Ire-
land has a third of the space. The other prob-
lem is that we might not need that number
of refuges if other things were working
really well in the country. If the Gardaí, courts responses and housing
weren’t under such workloads not as many people would need to get
emergency accommodation.”
The main concern for Women Aid and other organisations that
deal with domestic violence cases, is cutbacks and the threat that
lack of housing could push people back into these abusive relation-
ships.
“A lot of women just want to get up and go rather than be caught
in the situation, they don’t want to be punished they feel trapped
because if they even get into a refuge there isn’t anywhere to go after
and if they can’t get into a refuge they can end up sleeping in a car.
It’s an unfair system and the people who are most at risk are the ones
*The women featured in this article have had their names changed to
protect their identity however their stories and situations are real.
NOWHERE
HIDETO
Words by Patrice Brady
Women are
being choked,
strangled, and
kicked and
punched and
still can’t get
into a refuge.
“
”
G

2. NOWHERE
HIDETO
*Maya has been married for
ten years and she suffers on-going
physical and emotional abuse from
her husband, which has often taken
place in front of their children.
During the last incident of abuse
he tried to beat their daughter and
she prevented this by standing in
front of him. Maya was badly beaten.
Maya and her children left the family
home and went to stay in a women’s
refuge. Unfortunately due to the
lack of emergency accommodation
Maya had to leave after a couple of
days she now has to choose between
hospitalisation or homelessness.
*Aishling’s husband was due to be
released from prison and she wished to
move as she feared for her own safety
and the safety of her children. She
moved to an area where no-one knows
her and the Community Welfare Offi-
cer agreed to pay her rent allowance.
However, when Aishling went to the
local authority to transfer her name to
their housing list she was refused as
she has no connection with the area.
Now her and her children are at risk.
*Mary experienced abuse to such
an extreme that she feared for her life
and was unable to remain living with
her spouse. Every day at 3 she rings the
homeless agency to see if there is any
accommodation and has yet to hear a
positive response, she has been sleep-
ing in her car since February.
These are just a few women who
endure domestic violence every day in
Ireland and feel trapped in their abu-
sive relationship because of the hous-
ing crisis. In some areas of the country,
two- thirds of domestic violence
victims have no option to return to
their abusive partners due to a drastic
shortage in emergency refuges.
According to recommendations
for emergency housing for victims of
domestic violence from the Council
of Europe, there should be one refuge
space per head of ten thousand popu-
lations. Ireland is currently operating
at 38% below the recommended level
*The women featured in this article have had their names changed to
protect their identity however their stories and situations are real.
Words by Patrice Brady
and the standard of refuge accommodation
here is behind countries such as Bosnia- Her-
zegovina.
The Director of Woman’s Aid, Margaret
Martin spoke to Grit about the many factors
that attribute to homelessness for domestic
violence victims.
“The whole issue is with housing. We
know that there is 90,000 people currently
on the waiting list for housing and there is a
massive volume of people who are experienc-
ing the problem of homelessness quiet apart
from people who are actually in danger of
because of being in a relationship where they
are under a serious level of threat.
“These people who are subject to vio-
lence for their spouse are in a very different
situation where people are saying to them all
the time ‘leave, leave, leave’, without releas-
ing that leaving can sometimes be the most
dangerous time for them,” explained Margaret
Martin.
Women’s Aid is a leading national organ-
isation that has been working in Ireland to
stop domestic violence against women and
children since 1974. The organisation aims to
create a society that does not accept violence
against women. However the calls and de-
mand for Women Aid’s service has increased
especially since the recession and is making
it more difficult to stretch the organisation’s
limited funds.
“Women who experience domestic
violence within their own homes are in a ri-
diculous situation, for many they do not want
to involve the Gardaí, and the women who
do involve the Gardaí, experience difficulties
attaining a barring order from their abusive
partner.”
A barring order is an order which re-
quires a violence person to leave the fam-
ily home. Less than 10% of barring orders
requested are issued, and the majority of
women who look for a barring order will get
a protection order while they wait.
Margaret explained how this means that
their partner doesn’t have to leave; he can’t
assault her, threat her or put her in fear.
“But if someone has assaulted you or put
you in fear for your safety a protection order
won’t stop you being frighten,” said Marga-
ret.
The housing crisis associated with
domestic violence is an issue that has been
pushed behind the curtains for years with
each government passing the problem on to
the next despite the recommendations from
the Council of Europe.
Margaret explained the organisation’s ex-
haustion with the Government and the cuts
to refuge. “The European norm is based on
the population level in each country, Ireland
has a third of the space. The other problem
is that we might not need that number of
refuges if other things were working really
well in the country. If the Gardaí, courts
responses and housing weren’t under such
workloads not as many people would need to
get emergency accommodation.”
The main concern for Women Aid and
other organisations that deal with do-
mestic violence cases, is cutbacks and the
threat that lack of housing could push peo-
ple back into these abusive relationships.
“A lot of women just want to get up
and go rather than be caught in the situa-
tion, they don’t want to be punished they
feel trapped because if they even get into a
refuge there isn’t anywhere to go after and
if they can’t get into a refuge they can end
up sleeping in a car. It’s an unfair system
and the people who are most at risk are the
ones suffering.
“Women are being choked, strangled,
and kicked and punch and still can’t get
into a refuge. It’s a tragic situation and it
pushes women back into a relationship
where they are being abused as they feel
they have no other options and many of
these women don’t have any other support
and are in isolation.”
Currently there is a waiting list for
refuge accommodation and another diffi-
cult with refuges is that because there is a
lack of follow on options, a lot of women
are getting trapped and spending longer in
refuge as it is impossible to find accommo-
dation.
The latest statistics published in 2014
show that 3,500 people were refused
refuge accommodation because of lack of
space.
“The tragedy is that there will be
women who are victims of domestic
violence sleeping in cars tonight and to-
morrow night and you can see how cold it
is. No one should be turned out in the cold
because they have to flee for their safety,”
said Margaret summing up the reality of
the situation.
Women are
being choked,
strangled, and
kicked and
punched and
still can’t get
into a refuge.
“
”
G
8 9