The Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual, and Gender-Based Violence outlines a significant policy need for better quality information on the prevalence of gender-based and domestic violence in Ireland. As a result, the CSO has been tasked with leading on the development of a new survey to measure the prevalence of domestic violence.
The CSO’s work will be guided by a comprehensive report produced by an Advisory Group convened by Cuan in early 2025, to prioritise national data needs in the area of domestic violence and abuse. Following detailed analysis and consideration, Cuan, the Central Statistics Office (CSO), and the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration (DOJHAM) recommended to Minister O’Callaghan, that Ireland should participate in the EU Gender-Based Violence (EU-GBV) survey, and that the EU-GBV survey instrument would be an effective basis for the collection of Domestic Violence (DV) prevalence data, along with data on sexual and gender-based violence. At a European level, the survey has been designed to meet the need for data outlined in EU Directive 2024/1385 on combatting violence against women and domestic violence. This survey has been prepared by Eurostat, building on the work of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) and the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) who previously coordinated this survey in 2022.
The survey will provide comparable international data on domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence (DSGBV) to inform domestic and EU-wide policy. The CSO are now embarking on the design of the survey to adapt the Eurostat survey specification to an Irish context and, to ensure that the survey generates nationally representative indicators of domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence for both women and men. As part of this process, the CSO will convene a working group of stakeholders to ensure that the survey instrument is aligned with national policy needs and includes the key concept of coercive control.
A working group is being established by the CSO to advise on the development of the national requirements to be included in the EU-GBV survey which have been identified in the Advisory Group (AG) scoping report produced in February 2025. The working group will be chaired by the CSO.
The role of the Working Group is to ensure that the EU-GBV, as developed for an Irish context, aligns with national data and policy needs, and includes indicators that will enable users draw conclusions about the prevalence of domestic violence, and the concept of coercive control.
The primary focus of the working group will be as follows:
The Subgroup will give regard to:
The working group may consult with or co-opt such persons with relevant expertise as it thinks fit.
The timeframe for the working group is necessarily time-bound and will aim to meet three times between February 2026 and April 2026. The first meeting of the working group will take place in person at the Central Statistics Office, Ardee Rd. Rathmines, Dublin 6, with subsequent meetings taking place either in person or online, this will be at the discretion of the chair.
The WG will be brought together for a three-month period (February – April 2026) to support and advise the CSO on key national requirements on DV to be incorporated into the EU-GBV.
Appointed by CSO, WG members have been invited to participate to support CSO on this project because of their specialist skills and experience and knowledge of the subject matter and their survey design and measurement expertise.
The working group will provide the CSO with advice and suggestions for adapting the EU-GBV survey to ensure that its design and content are adapted as much as possible to meet the national need for data on domestic violence and abuse, including coercive control.
The EU-GBV survey is based on a large and comprehensive survey instrument, the outputs from which CSO will be required to deliver in their entirety to Eurostat, as per the normal terms of each country’s participation in an EU survey. This obviously limits to an extent the scope for the addition of national questions and adaptations but doesn’t completely preclude them.
Final decisions about the design and content of the survey will rest with the CSO. The survey design and questionnaire content will be informed by engagement with the working group, the conclusions of the AG scoping group report and meeting the requirements of the EU-GBV methodology.
Notes from meetings will capture the advice from the group and will be circulated to WG members after each meeting.
A final report will issue to the members of the working group summarising the discussions and advice of the group, and the key take aways that CSO will aim to incorporate into the final survey design.
Roles in group:
Members: