Study and Report

The first national survey to focus on experiences of stalking and harassment in Ireland was hosted on this page between November 2021 and February 2022.  The first output from this survey, the Stalking and Harassment: An Investigation of Experiences in Ireland Report, had three aims:

1. to provide quantitative data on the stalking and/or harassment process as experienced by people in Ireland;
2. to evaluate the wording of the proposed stalking offence with reference to this quantitative data to help ensure that it is sufficiently broad to capture the behaviours experienced by those subjected to stalking in Ireland; and
3. to provide an initial snapshot of the reasons for reporting or not the behaviours experienced to An Garda Síochána.

The Report was launched on 21 March 2023.  Please click here to read the report. 

To watch the report launch, please see below. 

Support

If you have had any experience of stalking or harassment, we recommend that you contact the Sexual Violence Centre Cork for appropriate support info@sexualviolence.ie / CALL 1800 496 496 / TEXT 087 1533 393  

The Sexual Violence Centre Cork is providing support to all who experience stalking or harassment.  Your experience of stalking or harassment need not include a sexual violence component.

You will also find additional resources on www.stalkinginireland.ie

Survey

The survey is now closed.  However in this section you will find the original text of this page which invited people to participate in the survey.  If you are interested in seeing what the questions were, you can view the Appendix in the Report. 

Overview of Study

Thank you for considering participating in this research project. This is an anonymous survey designed to investigate the prevalence of stalking and harassment in Ireland. To date there have been no studies on the prevalence, process or impact on victims of stalking and harassment in Ireland. This research, with its focus on your experience, will help fill this gap

The terms ‘stalking’ and ‘harassment’ are sometimes used interchangeably, but they can be very different.

Harassment is when someone behaves in a way that interferes with your peace and privacy or makes you feel alarmed, distressed or threatened, and this has happened either several times or has been for a prolonged single period (e.g. following you for half an hour). The harasser could be someone you know or a stranger.

Stalking is a pattern of repeated, unwanted and intrusive behaviour that typically involves an intense obsession or fixation on the part of the stalker.  The stalker could be someone you know or a stranger.

This survey is now closed. 

Survey Design

The survey is divided into 5 sections as follows:

Section 1: Consent Form

Section 2: Demographic Information

Section 3: The Stalking/Harassment Process

Section 4: Impact on You (Social, Financial, Physical and Psychological)

Section 5: Your Responses to the Stalking/Harassment

There are 38 questions in this survey which will take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete.  Participation in this study is voluntary. Please answer the first five questions that indicate your consent to participate. You can refuse to answer any other questions that you are not comfortable with or you can decide to withdraw from the survey at any point.  To do so, simply click “no” to any question asking if you wish to proceed to the next section of the survey.

Support

WE DO NOT INTEND TO CAUSE ANY DISTRESS TO PARTICIPANTS. SOME OF THE TOPICS BROACHED IN THE SURVEY, HOWEVER, ARE OF A SENSITIVE AND PERSONAL NATURE. Questions are asked around your experiences of unwanted behaviours that could constitute stalking and/or harassment.

If you are affected in anyway by the content of this survey, we recommend that you contact the Sexual Violence Centre Cork for appropriate support info@sexualviolence.ie / CALL 1800 496 496 / TEXT 087 1533 393. 

Further Information

Please note that respondents must be over 18 years of age but the experiences you discuss may have happened to you before the age of 18.

If you have any queries about this research, please contact c.staunton@ucc.ie 

This survey is now closed.

Link to Survey

If you agree to take part in this study, please click on the link below to be brought to the Consent Form, the first section of the survey:

Stalking and Harassment in Ireland

This survey is now closed.