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	Almost one-quarter of the perpetrators of sexual violence against adult women in Ireland are either partners or ex-partners.</p>
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	The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) and Women&#39;s Aid have launched a new campaign after a survey revealed one in 20 Irish women have experienced sexual violence in their relationships &ndash; with one-third being attacked numerous times.</p>
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	The European-wide survey delivered shock results with more than half of these women reporting being raped by their partner at least once but one-quarter were too &quot;ashamed or embarrassed&quot; to report the crime or seek help.</p>
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	The DRCC said almost one-quarter of the perpetrators of sexual violence against adult women in Ireland are either partners or ex-partners.</p>
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	The DRCC and Women&#39;s Aid moved on the back of the hard-hitting survey results to launch a new campaign &ndash; &#39;Not Happily Ever After&#39; &ndash; to highlight the support available to Irish women.</p>
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	The European-wide survey was carried out by the European Fundamental Rights Agency, and 42,000 women between the ages of 18 and 74 years old were interviewed.</p>
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	The DRCC CEO, Eileen O&#39;Malley Dunlop, said: &quot;The campaign plays on the fairy-tale notion of &#39;happily-ever-after&#39; to call attention to sexual violence within relationships.</p>
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	&quot;It questions the common misconception that sexual violence is mainly perpetrated by strangers.</p>
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	&quot;This campaign aims to challenge the culture of victim-blaming that leaves women silenced and ashamed, while violent perpetrators remain outside the criminal justice system.&quot;</p>
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	Margaret Martin, the director of Women&#39;s Aid, said the research proves there is significant &quot;under-reporting of sexual violence in relationships&quot;. and that Irish women show &quot;particularly low levels of help seeking&quot;. She said that this campaign aims to help women &quot;overcome the shame and fear associated with this crime&quot;.</p>
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	&quot;There has only been one marital rape conviction in nearly a quarter century, since the law has been on the statute books,&quot; Ms O&#39;Malley Dunlop added.</p>
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	&quot;In reality, women are at risk of sexual violence from their partners, exes or someone they know. Both physical injuries and long-term psychological consequences are common and reflect the repeat victimisation in relationships where there is sexual violence, coercion and control.</p>
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	&quot;We hope this campaign will encourage women to pick up the phone and speak to someone they can trust, who will understand and support them, in complete confidence.&quot;</p>
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	<a href="http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/quarter-of-all-sex-attacks-on-women-at-hands-of-partner-30258711.html">http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/quarter-of-all-sex-attacks-on-women-at-hands-of-partner-30258711.html</a></p>
