Great local turnout for Go Purple Day in Kilkenny

An initiative to raise awareness around domestic violence took place in Kilkenny on Friday.

Local businesses decorated their shopfronts in purple and a number of landmark buildings, including Kilkenny Garda Station let up their buildings in a purple hue.

A cyclethon was held in the Market Cross Shopping Centre, organised by Inspector Alma Molloy and local gardaí, along with members of other frontline services who support victims and survivors of domestic violence took part in the event.

“It was a fantastic day and people really got behind Go Purple Day this year. The event in the Market Cross was a great success with all the local services coming together to cycle against domestic violence. On behalf of everyone involved I want to thank everyone who called by to show their support and made it a very successful day,” she added.

This year the gardaí and other agencies involved wanted to highlight the various court orders that are available to both men and women who are victims of domestic violence can apply for.

“There are a number of different orders including a protection order, safety order, emergency barring order, interim barring order and a barring order. Orders are issued by a judge in the district court where the person looking for the order lives and if a judge issues a domestic violence order gardaí will also receive a copy and it will be recorded on the garda pulse system,” added the inspector.

Recent figure show an increase in reported incidents of domestic violence in Kilkenny.