About Us

Women’s Aid is a national, feminist organisation working to prevent and address the impact of domestic violence and abuse.  We do this by advocating, influencing, training, and campaigning for effective responses to reduce the scale and impacts of domestic abuse on women and children and providing high quality, specialised, integrated, support services. Our vision is an equal Ireland, with zero tolerance of domestic abuse and all other forms of violence against women.

Our Frontline Services

• 24hr National Freephone Helpline 1800 341 300 
  Women’s Aid operates the 24hr National Freephone Domestic Violence Helpline in the Republic of Ireland. The Helpline provides a listening ear, emotional support and practical information to women subjected to violence and abuse from their current or former partners. The Helpline also acts as a ‘gateway’ for direct referral to all other local specialist services across Ireland. It is the only free, national, domestic violence and abuse Helpline with specialised, trained Support Workers, fully accredited and quality assured by The Helplines Partnership.
• The Language Line – Women’s Aid Telephone Interpretation Service
  The 24hr National Freephone Helpline has a Telephone Interpretation Service facility covering 200+ languages for callers needing support in their own language. Interpreters are available on the Helplinw 24hours a day, seven days a week.
• Instant Messaging Support Service (IMSS)
  The Women’s Aid IMSS is a free, confidential and secure service where women can seek support and information from
  fully trained Helpline Support Workers through instant messaging. The service is open mornings and evenings, seven days a week, and can be accessed through womensaid.ie or toointoyou.ie. The service is more easily accessible to women who feel they are at risk of being overheard by their abuser.  

Face-to-Face Services in the Greater Dublin Area

• One-to-One Support Service
  The Women’s Aid One-to-One Support Service provides indepth information and support to women who have been subjected to domestic violence and abuse throughout Dublin City and County. This ongoing face-to-face and phone support can include court accompaniment, safety planning, advocacy and referral support to external organisations. Our advocacy and referral work includes accompaniment to the local Gardaí to make statements; assistance with legal aid applications; support with immigration status within the context of domestic violence and abuse; advocating to Housing Authorities for women who are no longer safe in their homes; and support in accessing local refuges. Court accompaniment includes emotional support before, during and after the court proceedings, clarifying legal terminology and exploring further options. We support women with applications and hearings in the context of domestic violence orders as well as access, custody, maintenance, divorce and separation cases where domestic violence and abuse is present.
• Domestic Abuse Information and Support Service (D.A.I.S.) - A Drop-In Service for Women in Dolphin House, Family Law Court2
  Based in the Dolphin House Family Law Court in Dublin, the Domestic Abuse Information and Support Service (D.A.I.S.) is a free and confidential drop-in service for women who are subjected to domestic violence and abuse. The service is available Monday to Friday 9.30am to 4.30pm and provides support and information on legal options and safety planning, and links women in with domestic violence and abuse services for ongoing support. Women’s Aid runs this service in partnership with the Inchicore Outreach Centre.
• High-Risk Support Project
  The High-Risk Support Project provides a multi-agency response to women at a high-risk of ongoing violence, abuse and homicide from their ex-partners and ex-spouses.  Women’s Aid works with An Garda Síochána and local domestic violence services to deliver a coordinated rapid  response system for women and their families, which is generously supported by the Vodafone Foundation and the Department of Justice.
• Women’s Aid Maternity Project
  This is an innovative pilot project (2021-2024) which has the aim of enhancing maternity hospitals’ and units’ response
  to victims/survivors of domestic violence and abuse through  a jointly created, delivered and operated Domestic Violence
  and Abuse Training, Awareness and Referral Programme.  The project is a partnership between, Women’s Aid and
  three Dublin Maternity hospitals and Cork University Hospital who will collaborate on delivery and evaluation of the key strands of the programme.

Working for Social Equality

• Specialised Training
  Women’s Aid’s Training and Development Department has a proven track record of designing and delivering specialist domestic violence and abuse training to local and national organisations throughout Ireland. We support organisations in the statutory, community and voluntary sectors, as well as corporate bodies, to enhance and improve responses to women who are subjected to domestic violence and abuse.  All Women’s Aid training is informed and guided by our decades of experience directly supporting women and by models of best practice.
• Public Awareness and Campaigns
  Women’s Aid leads the way in raising awareness and  providing information on domestic violence and abuse to victims and survivors, their families and friends, their communities and wider society. Our annual public awareness campaigns and communications activities are a vital way to highlight the prevalence, nature and impact of domestic violence and abuse, intimate relationship abuse and femicide.  Too Into You is a Women’s Aid campaign and resource for young women (aged 18-25) to learn about their intimate relationships and seek support and advice if they are suffering or fear they may be suffering intimate relationship abuse. Friends, classmates, colleagues, family members and professionals can also access information about intimate relationship abuse here. The campaign highlights the hidden reality of many young intimate relationships.  We also engage with the media to promote the 24hr National Freephone Helpline and our other support services. The Women’s Voices Testimony Project encourages and facilitates victims and survivors to tell their stories in a safe way to improve awareness on domestic violence and abuse and reach women in similar situations.
• Influencing Government and Policy
  Women’s Aid provides solution-based recommendations on improving preventions, legal responses, policies and protections to support women and children subjected to domestic violence and abuse, and we bring their concerns to a number of national and local fora. We make submissions and meet with government ministers, policymakers and members of the Oireachtas to discuss a range of issues and collaborate with other agencies and organisations to bring about social and political change.