One in four Irish women faced sexual violence with a partner, figures show

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

One in four adult women has experienced sexual violence with a partner, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

This is more than four times the level for men at 6 per cent.

Those who were “White-Irish Traveller/Roma/other white background” were more likely to have reported experiencing sexual violence as an adult with a partner (19 per cent) than those who were “Asian or Asian Irish” (7 per cent).

Just under 30 per cent of women experienced sexual violence as an adult with a non-partner, which was over three times the level for men at 9 per cent.

For sexual violence as an adult with a non-partner, the most prevalent location was in a pub/club/disco for men (30 per cent) and women (26 per cent).

Overall, the majority of perpetrators were male.

More than eight in 10 adults (84 per cent) who experienced sexual violence as an adult with a partner and almost nine in 10 adults (87 per cent) who experienced sexual violence as an adult with a non-partner reported that the perpetrator was male.

The statistics show that 9 per cent of all people who faced sexual violence as an adult suffered the experience within the 12 months prior to the CSO survey.

For those aged 18-24, the rate was more than three times greater at 30 per cent.

More than one in three adults with a third level education reported experiencing sexual violence as an adult, compared with 6% of those with a primary level of education or below.

Bisexual and gay/lesbian people reported higher levels of sexual violence as an adult (55 per cent and 40 per cent respectively) than heterosexual/straight people (25 per cent).