At a briefing in Leinster House ahead of International Women’s Day, Sonas Domestic Violence Charity will today tell Oireachtas members that women are often forced to navigate a complex and disjointed system when trying to access supports for cases of domestic, sexual and/or gender-base violence.

Sonas will also outline how the courts system can be unwelcoming and unhelpful to those seeking assistance for domestic, sexual and/or gender-based violence. The service also reiterated its call for a dedicated and trained National Garda Unit where those seeking help for domestic, sexual or gender-based violence are treated equally irrespective of what part of the country they are in.

Sonas, the domestic violence service ,operating nationally, said that too often International Women’s Day events in Ireland are focused on nice coffee mornings and champagne receptions and that a reset is needed to ensure the focus of the event is returned to those women and children most vulnerable and who need society to step up for them.

Speaking ahead of the briefing in Leinster House, Sonas CEO David Hall said:

“There is a misconception out there that it’s as simple as a woman in crisis ringing a nationally advertised helpline. Unfortunately, that is often not the case, and we have regularly found that where a woman takes the courageous step to call a helpline she will then be transferred through services until one with space is found. This will often require the woman to recount her trauma on multiple occasions before she finds a service that can help her.

“We in Sonas want that to change. As the largest provider of refuge spaces in the country – and with significant additional capacity being added this year whereby we are building two new refuges – we believe women in a domestic violence crisis situation should have, in so far as is possible, a one stop journey to access help.  We know we can do that for women contacting Sonas – we believe the same should apply nationally.

“Sonas is a national domestic violence charity; we can provide assistance throughout the country and our service does not stop at providing a bed. We operate wraparound services including court accompaniment services, counselling and future housing need supports.

“There is significant support at political level for domestic violence services and we are thankful for that. However, we think it is important that the conversation is not simply about refuge bed numbers. We must shift the narrative so that policy makers and legislators recognise the need to make the system -including the justice system- as user-friendly as possible for the women and children experiencing the trauma of domestic violence. Everything Sonas does is victim-centred and we want to see the entire system follow our lead in that regard.”