Ireland

4,822,185

0.88%

Number of girls and women affected

3,780 women and girls are estimated to have undergone female genital cutting (FGC) in Ireland. The practice is not indigenous to Ireland, however it has been known to continue within some diaspora, refugee and immigrant populations.

Source: Akidwa

Type practised

The type of FGC practised by communities in Ireland is likely to be varied, depending on the traditions surrounding the practice within their ethnic group/country of heritage.

Age

The average age at which girls living in Ireland have undergone FGC is unknown. Girls at risk may undergo FGC from birth, approximately up until the age of 16, depending on the traditional age of cutting within a specific ethnic group.

Agent

Varied. Girls living in Ireland may be at risk of undergoing the practice within the country, or overseas. This could be carried out by a medical practitioner, or by a traditional cutter.

Legal status

Illegal. Ireland passed The Criminal Justice (Female Genital Mutilation) Act 2012 making it a criminal offence for someone resident in Ireland to perform the practice, or to take a girl to another country to undergo FGC.

National progress

• 2011 – FGC was embedded into Children First National Guidance for Protection and Welfare of Children.
• 2012 – Ireland introduced a law against FGC.
• 2013 – FGC was recognised as a form of gender-based violence in programmes funded by Ireland’s One World, One Future policy.
• 2015 – Ireland launched its second National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, the third pillar of which looked at support for FGC survivors.
• 2015 – Ireland signed the Istanbul Convention, (the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence); the first convention to recognise that FGC occurs in Europe.
• 2017 – Irish civil society launched a report “Towards a National Action Plan to Combat FGM 2016-2019”, coalesced by AkiDwA

Human Development Index ranking

4 in 2018 index, based on 2017 data.

Infant mortality rate

 3 deaths per 1,000 live births (2016).

Maternal mortality rate

8 deaths per 100,000 live births (2015).

Source: Human Development Index

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