26 September 2023

For immediate release 

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today released the fifth of six reports from the Sexual Violence Survey which measure the prevalence of sexual violence in Ireland.

Today’s data focuses on sexual harassment. The objective of the survey is to provide high quality data on sexual violence which will act as a new baseline to measure levels of sexual violence in Ireland.

Key findings:

• Half of young adults aged 18-24 experienced sexual harassment in the last 12 months, compared with 7% of those aged 65 and older.
• Women are over twice (28%) as likely to experience sexual harassment than men (13%)
• Women were almost four times more likely to have experienced inappropriate physical contact (15%) than men (4%)
• Over one in twelve young adults (8%) reported they had experienced their sexual images or videos being shared without their permission in the last 12 months.
• Half (50%) of men who experienced sexual harassment in the last 12 months did not disclose their experience.
• Women experienced higher rates across all types of sexual harassment except for the sharing of sexual images or videos without their permission, where both men and women experienced it at the same rate (2%).

Dr Clíona Saidléar, Executive Director, Rape Crisis Network Ireland welcomes the data released today by the CSO:

‘This report on sexual harassment, amongst other things, provides one of the first opportunities to gain insights into the new crime of stalking.

It’s important that stalking is counted in this survey of sexual harassment in Ireland. The overall number of people surveyed who report having been stalked is 3%. But for 18-25 year olds, it’s 7%. This is a pattern, across all the forms of harassment – for the younger cohort, where we are seeing an increased vulnerability.’

Today’s publication is part of a series released over 2023 by the CSO as part of their Sexual Violence Survey 2022 research. The objective of the research is to provide high quality national data on sexual violence which will act as a new baseline for assessing levels of sexual violence in Ireland. The survey will be conducted again in ten years’ time.

Dr Clíona Saidléar, Executive Director, Rape Crisis Network Ireland:

‘These statistics on sexual harassment are invaluable in understanding its dynamic and how it affects our daily lives – from the workplace to online, from unwanted comments to stalking.

While the prevalence for young people in particular of harassment and stalking is stark and of great concern, we also see from the data that quite a number of people are talking about their experiences. By breaking the silence on sexual harassment, we are able to build stronger support which will aid survivors and ensure that we can combat these damaging practices which have been tolerated for far too long.’

The Sexual Violence Survey report is available on the CSO website.

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About Rape Crisis Network Ireland:

RCNI builds and sustains expertise to identify, make the case for, and implement priorities for a whole-of society and Government response to sexual violence.

Rape Crisis Network Ireland’s Executive Director Clíona Saidléar is available for interview.

For further information or to arrange an interview, please contact

• Louise Williams Communications Officer
  comms@rcni.ie / 087 679 0137