2) Other Issues Identified by Women in Aoibhneas
Three case studies were carried out with women resident in Aoibhneas
at the time of the research. Two more were carried out with women who
had tried to resolve their circumstances without professional help. These
latter two were important because the women who eventually come to
Aoibhneas represent such a small number of those who are actually
suffering from domestic violence.

Women in the case studies may 'choose' not to leave their homes when
they first experience domestic violence because they have;

• Fears for their children being traumatised by their removal from home;
• No financial resources;
• No alternative housing;
• Fears about a refuge setting;
• Fears about what comes after the refuge.

Equally, women are acutely aware that in coming to a refuge, they have
finally had to 'make a choice' with which they have never been confronted
in the first place. So, although their individual circumstances differ, there are
themes, which emerge from the case studies that are common to women
experiencing domestic violence.

These themes help identify what the community at all levels needs to do
better to support women who suffer the crime of domestic violence. More
worrying still - given the increasing restrictions on access to alternative
housing - would be if women actually delay seeking help at all because
they perceive entering a refuge as a one-way ticket to a longer-term
homelessness.

Gaps, unmet needs and urgent priorities that need to be addressed include:

• Lack of rapid access to competent free legal aid for all victims of
  domestic violence;
• Lack of confidence that the range of statutory services grasp the
  realities of domestic violence;
• Lack of access to trained professionals in the statutory services who
  are specially qualified to deal with domestic violence;
• Lack on the part of statutory services of co-ordinated responses to support
  the needs of women and the needs of children;
• Lack of explicit directives for the Garda Siochana and the social work
  and community care services about the co-ordination and enforcement
  of barring orders;
• Severe problems of lack of appropriate housing.

For the women who have come through Aoibhneas, there is a need for:

• Strengthening the follow-on support coming from Aoibhneas including
  informal support and development work such as the provision of course
  off-site;
• Quicker and better solutions to the problem of alternative housing;
• More co-ordinated support from the statutory services for women;
• More co-ordinated support from the statutory services for children.

Additional issues, which require community-wide attention from individuals,
statutory and voluntary services alike include:

• The determination community of family and friends failing to respond
  to a situation of domestic violence;
• The down playing or rejection of a women's plea for help from G.P's,
  priests, social workers, Gardai and other professionals;
• Women not knowing where else to go for help and information on
  social welfare, legal aid, and other practical measures;
• Rebuilding self belief, self-value and self-esteem in the wake of
  domestic violence;
• Having access in schools to truly comprehensive work at a young age
  on self-esteem and relationships.