Weds, 2 April, 2025
With domestic violence incidents reported to gardai showing a 10% year-on-year rise since 2021 to more than 65,000 cases last year, Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI), the national independent advocate to reduce alcohol harm, notes with concern the continued lack of movement by government to legislate for the introduction of Operation Encompass, despite it being a recommendation in the 3rd National Strategy for Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence (DSGBV) which was published back in 2022.
Operation Encompass is a police-led, school-based early intervention safeguarding scheme which supports children and young people who experience domestic abuse, much of which is alcohol fuelled. Under Operation Encompass, police share information with schools by the following day where there have been instances of domestic abuse involving a child, allowing the school to give immediate support to the traumatised child. This is essentially an information sharing protocol between police and schools. In May 2023, the programme was officially rolled out across all 1,162 schools in Northern Ireland, with more than 23,000 referrals made in the first 12 months.
Despite the Minister for Justice’s recent claim that “work is ongoing to scope out and develop an operational framework to introduce Operation Encompass in the Irish system”, this is a far cry from the National DSGBV Strategy Implementation Plan which stated that by Q3 of 2023, work would convene “with a view to bringing this consideration to a conclusion”, leading AAI to fear that this common-sense, effective approach to supporting children experiencing domestic violence has been put on the long finger by government.
AAI CEO Dr Sheila Gilheany said: “Bearing witness to domestic abuse is an adverse childhood experience (ACE) that can cause problems into adulthood. This risk increases when both substance use and violence coexist in the family. We know that our systems and legal mechanisms are different from those north of the border, but our children and the issues they face are not. This is a humane trauma-informed response to a child in distress. There is no doubt many teachers would do this anyway if they knew what was going on in a child’s home, but the fact is that very often, they don’t due to the hidden nature of domestic abuse.
“In its first year in operation in Northern Ireland, there were more than 23,000 referrals to Operation Encompass which would translate to around 65,000 referrals in Ireland. Why the government hasn’t yet legislated for such a common-sense approach to support these hidden victims of domestic abuse is puzzling.”
In its latest publication, ‘Alcohol and domestic, sexual and gender-based violence’, AAI shines a light on the role alcohol plays in DSGBV. As Dr Eoin Fogarty, Consultant in Emergency Medicine, Cork University Hospital, states in the document: “I frequently attend to victims of domestic abuse, and a key factor frequently present is alcohol, resulting in severe physical and psychological trauma to all parties, including children.”
While alcohol can never be used as excuse for DSGBV, the role of alcohol is one of a facilitative nature, a contributing cause that accelerates and exacerbates DSGBV. The report presents evidence both nationally and internationally of the role of alcohol in such violence, with some estimates of alcohol being a factor in up to 70% of domestic violence incidents. As such, AAI believes that any strategy to combat DSGBV must take the role of alcohol into account and therefore reducing whole-of-population alcohol consumption through controls on pricing, marketing and availability must be implemented as a strategy for reducing violence against women – as recommended by the World Health Organisation. It is disappointing that legislation to control the content of alcohol advertising, which was passed in 2018, has still not been implemented. The net result is that Ireland is saturated with alcohol messaging giving an entirely false view of this lethal, mood-altering drug. Other recommendations to government include:
- Adopt clear primary objectives in relation to alcohol regulation and licencing to prevent DSGBV, alongside existing objectives around alcohol harm reduction
- Deliver evidence-based reforms to address availability and access, including regulations on licenced premises density, operating hours, online sales, and advertising
- Work with Cuan, the Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (DSGBV) Agency, and other organisations, on a framework to ensure the development of an integrated and focused effort to address the role of alcohol in DSGBV
Dr Gilheany continued: “Research continuously identifies alcohol use as one of the most consistent risk factors for domestic violence and violence against children. International research also shows that the accessibility and availability of alcohol is closely linked to violence, the more alcohol outlets there are and the later they trade, the more violence we see, and vice versa. For example, a two-hour reduction in late-night trading hours in New South Wales, Australia, in the late 2000s was found to reduce reports of domestic violence by 29%. Unfortunately, the inverse was also proven when the New South Wales government decided to extend alcohol sales by one hour in 2016, and a significant increase in family violence assaults was experienced, while in Northern Ireland the extension of licencing hours in October 2021 has led to a 17% increase in alcohol-related crime. These are important considerations given ongoing proposals from the Department of Justice to change licensing laws for the sale of alcohol.
“Alcohol-related crimes that take place in the home, particularly those associated with domestic abuse, can often go unreported to An Garda Síochána, or if reported the alcohol factor is not noted. Children are often the unseen victims of domestic abuse. We therefore call on government to not just act quickly to legislate for Operation Encompass but to also ensure close co-ordination across multiple government departments and agencies to reduce whole-of-population alcohol consumption as a key strategy for reducing DSGBV.”
ENDS
NOTES:
‘Alcohol and Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence’ is available here
Media language guide is available here
