Adams says Gardaí in Louth must be resourced to support domestic abuse victims

Louth Sinn Féin TD Gerry Adams has said that An Garda Síochána's new Protective Services Unit in Louth must be adequately resourced to provide the necessary level of service to victims of domestic abuse.

Deputy Adams said;

"In March 2015 the National Protective Services Bureau was established by An Garda Síochána.

"It's remit is to investigate serious crimes against the person including sexual offences in support of the COSC Second National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence 2016-2021

"In addition to this unit operating across the state, the Minister for Justice has confirmed to me, in response to a recent parliamentary question, that the Garda Commissioner intends to establish Protective Services Units (PSUs), with specially trained staff, in every Garda division, on a phased basis.

"These PSUs are initially being delivered in three divisions, Louth, Dublin Metropolitan Region West and Cork City, over the coming 12 month period.

"The new Louth Protective Services Unit will mirror the responsibilities of the Garda National Protective Services Bureau and will ensure a consistent approach to domestic abuse and sexual crime.

"It will be based in Castlebellingham Garda Station and in addition to the one sergeant and five gardaí working within the unit, the Minister has confirmed to me that additional resources will be allocated shortly.  

He continued, "Domestic abuse is highly prevalent, with one in three women suffering at some time in their lives, and its effects are wide reaching impacting terribly on victims and also affecting wider society.

"I welcome the establishment of Louth Protective Services Unit and I hope that it becomes operational very soon.

"I had also asked the Justice Minister to provide details regarding the numbers of incidents of domestic abuse recorded in each garda division in each month in 2018.

"Worryingly his response indicated that the information collected on the garda PULSE system was deemed 'not sufficiently robust to generate reliable statistics' by the Central Statistics Office.

"I understand that An Garda Síochána and the Policing Authority are working towards recording crime figures to the standard expected.  

"This must be done as a matter of urgency.  It is impossible to adequately plan future services without an accurate assessment of current incidents.

Deputy Adams concluded, "Finally, victims of abuse attending Garda stations  to report incidents are often interviewed in unacceptable settings. This must change.

"That requires more resources being made available to ensure that victims have access to comfortable, private and therapeutic settings in Garda stations."