Dr. Maeve Eogan:

In response to Deputy O'Connell's question on why one third of people do not come back, we do not know because they do not come back. From a positive perspective, however, because we give people infectious disease preventative treatment and emergency contraception, hopefully they feel that they have no physical sequelae so they do not need to come back for an STI screen or a pregnancy test. In reality, their reasons are probably far more complex and include the fear, concern, stress and emotional trauma. They are able to contact the helpline and access crisis counselling, and, hopefully, are doing that, but it is a hugely stressful event for somebody and it is unfortunate but not surprising that not everybody returns for their follow-up.

Second, on whether one would not believe somebody who comes to a sexual assault unit after an incident of sexual violence, that is not our role. Our role is to support patients when they are there. It is up the Garda and, ultimately, the criminal justice system to determine whether a crime has occurred and to process that through the courts. It is up to us to take the evidence, the intimate samples, that An Garda Síochána cannot take as part of its detection. The forensic samples we take and the examination findings that we record all form part of the investigation and then there is also the medical piece that we do at the same time. It is not for us in the sexual assault treatment unit to be judge and jury for a patient who presents there.

The Deputy is correct that if a verification aspect were to be introduced, it could only prolong the process. Already, women who, for example, travel from Ireland for termination of pregnancy are more likely to have surgical termination of pregnancy than medical termination because they present later due to the process of having to travel. One would imagine that if there was a similar verification process, it could delay the termination of pregnancy and, potentially, convert a more physically low-risk instance into a more high-risk instance.