A DOMESTIC VIOLENCE survivor charity has called on politicians to improve services for women who have to navigate “complex and disjointed” systems when trying to access support.

Sonas, which provides a crisis accommodation service and other help to victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, briefed Oireachtas members this morning on the complexity and varied nature of cases ahead of International Women’s Day on Saturday.

One of the cases that Sonas highlighted to politicians was of a woman who was tortured, stabbed, burned, and had her hair pulled out and has undergone several surgeries as a result of her injuries. 

It told politicians about an 80-year-old woman who left her home on Christmas Day after 60 years of abuse from her husband and about a 22-year-old woman brought to Ireland for a forced marriage who was repeatedly raped and had nowhere to go.

It described a mother and her three children who lost their rental accommodation after the 14-year-old daughter was sexually abused by the landlord and a woman who was assaulted so badly in her own home that more than 20 of her bones were broken.

The charity’s message to politicians was that women who are subjected to such violence often have to go through a “complex and disjointed system” if they try to access supports.

Additionally, it outlined how the courts system can be “unwelcoming and unhelpful”, it said, to survivors.

At a press conference held by Sonas after the briefing for politicians, coercive control survivor Nicola Hanney expressed that she felt “let down” by services when she was being abused.

She said that more needs to be done to help women who are going through family law courts while being controlled and blackmailed. 

Sonas is calling for a dedicated and trained national garda unit to provide equal access to support for people seeking help for domestic, sexual or gender-based violence across the country.

Ahead of International Women’s Day, the charity also said that events to mark the day in Ireland often take the form of “nice coffee mornings and champagne receptions” and said that there needs to be a reset to put the focus of the day back on women and children who are the most vulnerable and who need society to step up for them.