Femicide In Ireland

Femicide in Ireland: Conviction Highlights Ongoing Pattern of Male Violence Against Women

By Marie o’Nealle

Dublin, Ireland — The conviction of Daniel Blanaru for the murder of his partner Larisa Serban has brought renewed focus to the persistent issue of femicide in Ireland. Blanaru, 37, was found guilty by unanimous verdict in the Central Criminal Court of murdering Serban, 26, at their home in Rathmore, Athboy, Co Meath. The fatal attack occurred on August 12, 2022.

During the seven-week trial, evidence described Blanaru as controlling and jealous. The court heard that he inflicted a 12-centimetre stab wound to Serban’s chest during an unprovoked assault, piercing her heart, lung, and aorta. Despite claiming the stabbing was an accident, the jury rejected his defense.

Women’s Aid, a national domestic violence support organization, responded to the conviction by reiterating calls for increased government action to address femicide and the structural conditions that allow such violence to continue. According to data compiled by Women’s Aid, 271 women have been violently killed in Ireland since 1996. In 2022 alone, 12 women were killed—marking the highest annual figure in a decade. In cases where the killer was known, each perpetrator was a male with all of them being current or former partners. 

A 2023 study published in Health and Human Rights Journal noted that Ireland lacks a formal legal definition of femicide and consistent official statistics, making it difficult to track or address the phenomenon at a national level. The study concluded that the scale of sex-based violence in Ireland remains underreported and under-researched.  It also doesn’t help that Irish lawmakers are actively trying to redefine the word “woman,” making it more difficult to accurately document the true scale of atrocities committed against the female sex. Self-ID laws further blur the lines of criminality, with crimes committed by men being officially recorded as crimes committed by women. These legal and cultural flaws are seen as direct results of male ideology and a broader climate of rampant perversion.

In the broader demographic context, Islam has become the third-largest religion in Ireland. According to the 2022 census, there were 81,930 Muslims living in the Republic—an increase from 63,443 in 2016 and 49,204 in 2011. Government projections have indicated that Islam may become the second-largest religion in the country by 2043. This growth reflects shifts in immigration, asylum, and birth rate patterns. Many Irish radical feminists argue that the rise of Islam in Ireland and its problematic treatment of women is directly connected to the growing rates of femicide targeting young Irish women who are not Muslim.

As the state continues to respond to sex-based violence, advocates and policy experts emphasize the need for coordinated data collection, legal reform, and public education. The case of Larisa Serban adds to a growing number of homicides in which women have lost their lives at the hands of men, reinforcing calls for an urgent systemic response.