Ms Ciara Lynch:

Yes, I have a lot to say. There is a lot I could say. There is a lot I did not say. Personally, I am not comfortable with sharing some of the experiences I have had down through the years because it is not the place to make disclosures. Countless times I have been introduced on stage as a female comedian in a kind of warning tone to the audience, suggesting that as a woman is coming on stage, they must prepare themselves. No male comedian gets that. Straight away we are other, we are different, we are alternative and we do not fit in. We are already on the back foot. I have been groped on stage by an MC in front of an audience. There are countless things. You kind of forget because you are in this area where you just have to put up with it because you are a woman in comedy. It is really not okay. I know countless people, and I mean countless, who have had worse and genuinely illegal experiences, including rape and sexual assault. They just left comedy because of all this and because they are not supported. They just left.