A week of horror – How Ireland ranks in Europe for femicide

In Europe, Ireland ranks 17th out of 24 countries for femicide.

Jamey Casey, killed in Killarney this week marked the eighth woman to die in violent circumstances.

In 2025, seven women died violently in the Republic of Ireland.

Since 1996, 286 women have been killed.

Women's Aid Ireland updated their femicide watch data twice this week, something that CEO Sarah Benson says is unthinkable.

"It is really notable that, in putting out a statement to to share the fact that we were at the same level already at this point in 2026 as the total number of women who died violently in 2025, is that we had to actually change the statement in the middle of the day, which is just shocking and horrifying to us," she said.

"If anyone is losing their lives, you know it just shows us how urgent this is. Because one life lost is a future robbed, but it's a whole community devastated every single time."

Taoiseach Micheal Martin said on Wednesday: “The numbers are not going in the right direction in terms of the continued violence and extreme violence that’s occurring, so there’s a societal response required.”

As the country grapples with this epidemic of male violence, we looked at similar countries and our nearest neighbours to see how others deal with it.

Scotland, which has a similar population to Ireland had 15 femicides in the year 2024-25.

Likewise, other countries with a population of approximately 5 million people include like New Zealand which sees on average 14 women killed per year, Norway saw ten in 2025, and Singapore had three femicides the same year.

Ireland ranks considerably lower than many countries with similar populations, although Women's Aid say one death is too many.

In 2025, England and Wales (population around 60m) saw 155 women killed, similar to the previous year which saw 158.

In Europe, Latvia consistently reports the highest femicide rate across the bloc in both 2022 and 2023.

The lowest EU rates were found in Malta, Greece, Spain, and the Netherlands.

As of 2024, Ireland needed 376 extra refuge beds in order to meet the recommended EU standard.

The government have increasing funding to almost €80 million under Budget 2026, to support Cuan and services working to tackle domestic and gender based violence and the implementation of the Zero Tolerance Strategy.