One self-defence instructor said he has seen a '1,000% increase' in women signing up for classes since Ashling Murphy's murder.
The 23-year-old schoolteacher was murdered by Jozef Puska as she went for a run along the Grand Canal in Tullamore, Co Offaly in January 2022.
Anthony Cunnane teaches Krav Maga, which is a form of Israeli martial arts.
He told Lunchtime Live there's more to self-defence than just punching and kicking.
"There's so much more to it - it's about the mental aspect of training [people] how to recognise danger," he said.
"How to respond to aggression, how to be more aware of your surroundings, be more self-aware of yourself, your own decesion-making process.
"We've been teaching programmes in schools around Ireland for the last 10 years, these are practical programmes."
'Taking the best of all martial arts'
Mr Cunnane said Krav Maga is a mixture of several different practices.
"You're taking elements from all different martial arts, and basically you're using what's available form all types of different martial arts and you're using them for self-defence purposes," he said.
"You're taking, really, the best of all martial arts and what would work in a situation where you have to physically defend yourself".
Mr Cunnane said there has been a notable increase in the number of people signing up.
"Especially with females, since Ashling Murphy was murdered, around Ireland it has grown 1,000% in regards to females coming in and learning self-defence.
"A lot of young girls in the schools have a false perception of how difficult it would be to defend themselves against an aggressive individual.
"We try and teach them about how to react... but also the main key is prevention.
"Basically making better decisions, understanding safety, understanding what you can do, what you can't do.
"Making better decisions to increase prevention so something won't happen to you".
School rollout
Mr Cunnane said he wants to see such classes rolled out in all secondary schools.
"During the COVID lockdowns I got on to a lot of TDs, I came up with a structured plan for a national programme to do this.
"Minister of Education Normal Foley, she actually responded and said they had the PDST programmes - which is the Professional Development Service for Teachers.
"They already had teaching going on in the schools in regards to inappropriate behaviour, sexual violence, consent, anti-bullying.
"The thing about it is that the teachers in the classrooms are taught this; but whenever I go into the schools and I'm teaching these programmes the students have no idea about it - they've never been taught it," he added.
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