One in 10 teenage girls believes that domestic violence can be somewhat excused if the perpetrator is drunk, a new Irish study has found.

According to Dr Julie Burns, a Cork GP, domestic abuse is a ‘common and under-recognised problem in all communities'. While it is difficult to determine how often this type of abuse occurs, over 14,000 incidents were reported to the Women's Aid national helpline in 2009.

Furthermore, research commissioned by the charity estimates that almost one in five women who have been in intimate relationships with men have been abused, while research by the National Crime Council estimates that one in seven women have experienced severe abusive behaviour by a partner at some stage in their life.

However for her study, Dr Burns decided to focus specifically on what teenagers think of this controversial issue. Almost 50 teenage girls, aged 15-17 were surveyed on a range of topics related to the issue...

Details of these findings are published in Forum, the Journal of the Irish College of General Practitioners.