Men’s Aid in Ireland is seeing an increase of men in their 60s and 70s seeking help from domestic abuse support services.
The charity is on course to having around 8,000 contacts this year, up from roughly 5,500 last year, said CEO Kathrina Bentley.
“Most months, 600 to 700 men a month are contacting us. About two-thirds of that would be disclosing various elements of abuse and coercive control, and under that would come emotional, psychological, financial abuse as well as physical and sexual violence,” she was quoted as saying by the Irish Examiner newspaper.
Many of the men have suffered in silence for years, said Ms Bentley, who suggested there could be hundreds of thousands of cases.
Men’s Aid is seeing men from the “older Irish generational family”, who have invested in the farm or in the land, making it more difficult to leave their situation. Many of the men the charity comes across will not leave the abusive environment until the mortgage on the home is fully repaid.
“They say ‘I’ve left now because the mortgage payment has been paid because I want her
