Remarks by Denise Charlton, Chief Executive
All our work at Community Foundation Ireland with our philanthropists, donors and supporters as well as our voluntary, community and charitable partners is focussed on delivering our mission of ‘Equality For All in Thriving Communities’.
It is a mission which cannot be achieved without ending domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.
As a philanthropic hub we have been working for 25-years to keep frontline services operating, identify emerging challenges and to make strategic interventions backed by best-in-class research.
At the outset it is important to understand the scale of the challenge and to accept the reality that sexual violence is endemic in our society – often hidden in plain sight.
The fact that one-in-three women experience psychological, physical or sexual abuse at the hands of an intimate partner should be a cause for alarm for everyone in this country.
So too should the reality that today Gardaí will respond to an average of 180 calls for help as a result of domestic violence.
Children are in the frontline of this crisis – often the only eyewitnesses when daddy threatens, abuses or even assaults their mammy.
They are also victims – with almost 15% of girls in Europe self-reporting experiences of abuse.
As shocking as the figures are, they are far from the full story. Behind each one are the very human stories of lives spent living in the shadow of violence, of danger and in some cases a very real threat to life.
Even those who make the courageous call for help can find themselves re-traumatised by criminal investigations, court proceedings where their experiences are often challenged and called into question.
An increasing and alarming aspect of this crisis is the deliberate attempts to normalise violent sexual acts. Both on and offline our children and young people are exposed to porn and also to sexual violence in gaming, social media and chat-rooms.
Predators, pimps and human traffickers lurk with immunity in the darker corners of the web as our support services, our policies and our laws struggle to keep pace with online crimes which in terms of size rank right up there with the illicit trade in drugs and arms.
That is the context in which we gather this evening.
As a Foundation we are keenly aware of these issues – as well as those emerging issues as perpetrators change and adapt their crimes to use technology to evade our laws and justice.
Our actions are informed not just by the experiences and the insights of our partners in the frontline responding to the needs of survivors but also by advocates, and experts who not only put this crisis into the spotlight but also identify necessary changes in approach, policies and laws. As well as researchers carrying out research which often shapes our laws.
The Foundation has become a source of knowledge and insight. We are also a convenor bringing together like-minded people and thought leaders to advance positive change.
Support for frontline services is the immediate need. Our philanthropists and supporters see that and respond generously.
We work with agencies like Women’s Aid, Rape Crisis Centres across the country, Ruhama and many more to ensure helplines are answered and there is a voice of support for women and children often in immediate danger.
We have been there too to offer places of safety. One donor has not only provided the first ever domestic violence refuge in West Cork, but is now helping ensure the delivery of a second.
Similarly we work in partnership with Cuan to deliver supports in Waterford.
Taking a broader view a partnership with Safe-Ireland has seen the development of blueprints for a model refuge – which is available to all to short-cut the provision of renovated or new safe spaces.
All of you will be aware of the RTÉ Toy Show Appeal. Each year the generosity of viewers is used to safe-guard and protect children growing up in violent homes.
New therapies have been introduced from wind-surfing in Donegal to therapeutic arts as well as equine therapy through horse riding. Each tailored to break through trauma and offer opportunities to transform young lives.
Frances Fitzgerald who you will hear from shortly is a champion in this area and now serves as an Ambassador for Ruhama. In her role she has raised awareness that prostitution is gender-based violence through incredible work with organisations such as the GAA.
Ruhama informed by our research partners of the Sexual Exploitation and Research Policy (SERP) Institute and John, (Lucy?) and Ruth are with us this evening – are identifying and providing trauma supports as well as routes out of prostitution for the 1,000 women and girls advertised for sale in our communities every week.
Prostitution is one of those areas where reaching women and girls being exploited and abused is extraordinarily difficult. There are other communities and areas of society where there are similar barriers to overcome.
Partnering with the Immigrant Council of Ireland has allowed the development of a Migrant Women Leadership Programme which trains and provides community navigators to guide through support services as well as the legal system.
The Foundation also partners with Pavee Point which is delivering culturally sensitive domestic violence programmes which are both accessible and trusted by Travellers.
You can now see the range of responses which are transforming lives every-day. That is work which is going on even as we speak with helplines being answered a short walk from here at Women’s Aid and the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre.
Responding to the immediate danger which women and children are in is hugely important – but our partners also recognise that if we are truly to become a society free from sexual violence then the answer lies in systemic change.
In addition to assisting and partnering with the delivery of essential and vital services, Irish philanthropy delivers significant pieces of research and work to deliver policy and legal change.
Partnerships supported by the Foundation have in recent times really set the policy agenda and ultimately delivering positive change.
The purchase of sex has been outlawed across the island on the back of the exhaustive efforts of many of you in this room and it has to be acknowledged the political leadership of then Minister Frances Fitzgerald.
Similarly, the evidence was provided and a successful campaign supported to ensure coercive control is criminalised in domestic violence cases.
Historic criminal records of women convicted of prostitution have been expunged in order to allow them re-start their lives.
While Zero Tolerance, the National Strategy on Domestic Sexual and Gender Based Violence has seen prostitution recognised as gender-based violence.
Frances and her colleagues provided the political leadership and courage, what must also be acknowledged is the foresight of our allies in the permanent Government.
Under the stewardship of Oonagh McPhillips, Secretary General of the Department of Justice these policies have become reality and are making an impact.
Oonagh who is with us this evening is one of several women leaders within our legal system delivering these changes.
Oonagh and her colleagues in the Department of Justice, the newly established agency Cuan and indeed those across Government are now considering our next steps – what are the priorities as we look beyond Zero Tolerance?
The expected life-span of the National Strategy runs out at the end of next year – not that far away.
Community Foundation Ireland and our partners are also looking at current forms of violence, emerging trends, areas where policy is failing or falling short.
The housing crisis has seen the emergence of ‘sex for rent’ where rogue landlords seek to prey on primarily young women tenants. Pioneering research by the National Women’s Council put this in the spotlight and has secured a commitment for new laws in the Programme for Government.
This is just one area where our partners are being supported to produce the evidence needed to bring about policy change.
Protecting from Predators, a research report by the SERP Institute, has highlighted the targeting of lone children in State Care by groups of men – even to the extent of stalking places where the children are being provided with refuge. That research is informing policies by the child protection agency Tusla.
Coming forward as a survivor of sexual violence takes immense courage. It is a journey many cannot take for a variety of reasons including intimidation, danger, fear of a legal system which can seem cold and uncaring and fear of not being believed.
The Community Foundation has partnered with the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre for the 2025 research ‘Unveiling Public Perceptions’. It shows 8 out of 10 people fear they would not be believed if assaulted. Highlighting the need for Cultural Change.
We see that too in our work with One in Four which not only called for legal reforms but also a national conversation so that every part of Irish society is involved.
One area where the Community Foundation is facilitating such a conversation is in the area of violent porn and the harms it is inflecting on our young people.
Together with Sarah and her team at Women’s Aid, the researchers of the SERP Institute we have convened national and international expertise in this area, advocates and the policy insight of Frances Fitzgerald to have discussions.
Reflections from a two day gathering and insightful discussions in Athlone are about to be published and will help inform the conversations going forward, conversations which must take place nationally, in Leinster House but most importantly at every kitchen table, in every classroom and every work-place in the country.
It is now almost five-years ago since Women’s Aid, the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and others including the Gardaí flagged a spike in domestic violence reports as restrictions locked victims in with their attackers.
Since then there has been much discussion about Ireland reaching a pivotal moment in its response to sexual violence.
Zero Tolerance has certainly brought us progress – for the first time ever a national agency charged with ending sexual violence. Cuan is up and running, increasing awareness while providing new leadership on supports and services.
There are more refuge spaces, consent classes are being rolled out across educational curricula, exit routes out of prostitution are being identified and implemented and so much more.
We can take pride that Community Foundation Ireland partners have been instrumental in bringing about these changes.
Now we meet and discuss where the need remains and this evening we invite our panellists and you our invited guests to discuss needs and priorities as we prepare for beyond Zero Tolerance.
ENDS
You can find out more about our work in this area through our Case Study on Towards a Society Free From Sexual Violence.
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