Women’s Aid saw a 70pc jump in domestic violence calls in 2016

Figures from Women's Aid, Ireland's national domestic support organisation, show that 19,000 contacts were made to the domestic abuse support service in 2016.

As well as reports of domestic abuse, there were nearly 4,000 disclosures of child abuse, according to RTE.

'We strive continually to push violence against women higher up the political agenda' #domesticabuse #GE2017 https://t.co/JLfcuZwucP

— Women's Aid (@womensaid) May 16, 2017

The service launched its extended National Freephone Helpline as a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week service in September 2016, and this is the first report since that time. 

96 per cent of callers were women, while 4 per cent were men.

In regards to domestic abuse, the helpline saw a 70 per cent jump in calls logged, with 16,946 disclosures of domestic violence against women noted compared to 9,000 the year previously. 

11,000 of these calls were about emotional abuse, 3,500 were disclosures of assault and almost 700 were reports of rape, according to the report.