Press release

‘Hardest stories’ – Launch of new DSGBV awareness raising campaign

From: Department of Justice
Published on: 26 February 2025
Last updated on: 27 February 2025

The Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan today launches a powerful new campaign to raise awareness of domestic and sexual violence, focusing on the importance of victims and survivors telling their story.

‘Hardest Stories’ is the first national awareness-raising campaign by Cuan, the Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (DSGBV) Agency.

The campaign – with a tagline of ‘The stories that are hardest to tell need to be told’ - aims to shine a light on particular stories of violence, while acknowledging that too many of these stories exist, and to empower people to tell their own story.

Minister O’Callaghan noted that both domestic violence and sexual violence are crimes that have traditionally been under-reported, and that significant work is being done to increase reporting, including through awareness campaigns.

The Minister added:

“I want victims of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence to know that they are not alone. An Garda Síochána, the Courts Service and other services, including the vital supports provided by our community, NGO and voluntary sector, are available to listen and to help.

“Every survivor’s story is important, and this campaign is about empowering people to tell their story, to make that often difficult first step towards help.

“Through Zero Tolerance, our national strategy to combat Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, we are making significant progress in combatting these terrible crimes and in making our justice system more accessible and victim-focused, and that work continues.

“I think the hard stories told in this awareness campaign will focus the minds of all of us who work in this area on the importance of listening, learning, and responding to the experiences of those who have suffered, and I am determined to do that.”

The campaign is centred on two television adverts, both of which provide a snapshot into what the survivor remembers of the abuse that they suffered, how they felt, and how they continue to feel. Further assets which will run across radio and digital channels feature more stories from men, women, and the LGBT+ community. They are stories of harassment, abuse, rape, stories of violence.

While the stories are difficult to tell – and to hear – the intention behind the campaign is to encourage and empower people to come forward. In addition to raising the importance of these stories, the campaign calls on the public to take an active role in tackling DSGBV and provides information on how to support someone who is a victim or survivor, on what signs to look out for, and on how they can use their voice to make change happen.

Dr. Stephanie O’Keeffe, CEO of Cuan, said:

“Centring the experience of victims and survivors of DSGBV is at the heart the values we bring to our work in Cuan. This is why we felt that our Agency’s first public awareness campaign should bring this experience centre-stage.

“The overarching message of the campaign is that Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence is prevalent in Irish society, however it is often hidden or ignored.

“With this campaign we hope to raise awareness of domestic and sexual violence within our society, encourage victims and survivors not to suffer in silence and to recognise that by telling their story they can reclaim their power.”

The campaign will run across TV, national and local radio, in press, digital and social media, in cinemas and on billboards and digital screens throughout Ireland from 27 February.

The ‘Hardest Stories’ campaign website can be found at www.gov.ie/stories.

For further information or queries on the work of Cuan and on this campaign, contact comms@cuanagency.ie

Notes

Launch of ‘Hardest Stories’

‘Hardest Stories’ is being launched today - Wednesday 26 February 2025 - by Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan and Cuan CEO Dr Stephanie O’Keeffe, at a screening and discussion event in the Irish Film Institute, Eustace Street Dublin.

The launch features the first screening of the campaign’s two hard-hitting TV advertisements, filmed on-location in Dublin.

The launch also features a fireside chat hosted by broadcaster Ciara Doherty with Nicola Hanney, author and survivor of domestic abuse and coercive control, and Ciara Mangan, survivor of rape and workplace abuse and founder of the ‘Beyond Surviving’ organisation. Reflecting on the campaign’s fictionalised scenarios of survivor storytelling, the discussion will explore the real-life process Nicola and Ciara (Mangan) went through when telling their own stories, and what gave them the impetus to do so.

More information on Cuan, including its Corporate Plan 2025-2027 launched in November 2024, can be found at www.gov.ie/cuan.

Campaign collateral, including links to the TV and radio advertisements, can be accessed at the links below.

‘Hardest Stories’ campaign – assets

The campaign will run across TV, radio, digital, cinema and out of home advertising platforms from 27 February until 9 April 2025.

Assets include two 30” TV adverts in English and Irish that will be broadcast across all major TV channels.

Four radio adverts will accompany the campaign, which will include one female Domestic Violence ad, one female Sexual Violence ad, one male Domestic Violence ad and one male Sexual Violence ad. An Irish language version of one of the radio adverts will be used in the campaign.

The Hardest Stories campaign website can be found at www.gov.ie/stories. The Website is a hub of important information delivered in a caring and compassionate tone that recognises how difficult it can be for victims and survivors to make that first step to reach out for help. It also has information on what the wider public can do to build zero tolerance of DSGBV and what the government and Cuan are doing to reach that goal.

All assets, for use in coverage, can be accessed below.