Just 35 Cases Of Sexual Violence Were Formally Reported In Irish Colleges In 3 Years
According to a Sunday Times survey, just 35 cases of sexual violences were formally reported from Irish colleges over a three year period.
This follows a campaign launched last week from National Women's Council of Ireland and Department of Further Education to tackle sexual violence and harassment at third-level institutions.
The findings of the NWCI were that women between the ages of 18-29 were most likely to be attacked. Furthermore, this is also the group that is least likely to report their attack to the relevant authorities.
In the Sunday Times survey, some colleges refused to comment on reports they received from students. Sligo IT, over the last three years, had received 20 reports. UCD had 12 complaints, whereas Trinity College had just one report.
We welcome the new initiatives launched by Min @SimonHarrisTD today, particularly the new national HEI reporting system on consent framework implementation and national survey of student experiences of harassment and violence on campuses. #ItStopsNow https://t.co/8w3vSqwNnL pic.twitter.com/YAQjijVNZE
— Womenscouncilireland (@NWCI) July 27, 2020
This is despite a survey of 6,000 students last week, with one in three women and one in eight men claiming that they were raped whilst in third-level education.
Dr Cliona Sadlier of the Rape Crisis Network has said that these numbers are not representative of the "epidemic" of sexual violence which is currently being seen across Irish colleges and universities.
"35 doesn't reflect, at all, the crisis and the epidemic of sexual violence and sexual harassment that is being experienced by students right now across our institutions.
"So, what we are seeing here is two things. One is that students aren't engaging with the institutions, but secondly, the institutions aren't demonstrating a uniform way of recording and understanding the formal complaints that have come in to them."