Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

On behalf of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, I thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of society's response to the very serious crime of rape.

The Minister is aware of the survey in question which concluded that there remains a section of the population in the United Kingdom who believe behavioural traits can contribute to a woman being in some way responsible for being raped. There is no doubt that, traditionally at any rate, there have been many terrible misrepresentations of the crime of rape which have added greatly to the suffering of the victims of sexual violence. Society has moved on considerably in the past ten or 20 years and many of the casually offensive assumptions about rape have been thrown out but it would be unrealistic to say that there is no more work to be done before we can consign these views to the past forever.

When the Government established the national steering committee on violence against women, the NSC, in 1997 to provide a co-ordinated response to the problem of violence against women, rape and other sexual assaults were key priorities and the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland was a member of the committee from the outset.

The Department, in conjunction with the NSC, has conducted a series of successful awareness-raising campaigns dealing with violence including rape and other sexual violence in recent years. Among these was a poster campaign warning of the dangers of drug rape that occur in pubs, clubs and third level colleges and universities. Grants have also been given to awareness-raising projects run by Rape Crisis Centres in Cork, Kilkenny and Wexford. This year the Department made grants to the Galway Rape Crisis Centre, the Kerry Sexual Abuse Centre, and the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre for awareness-raising campaigns during the UN 16 days of action on violence against women. All of these groups have made a significant contribution to tackling society's attitudes to rape and encouraging victims to come forward.

The NSC is developing a strategic plan for its work over the next five to ten years. The Minister's view is that, while much has been achieved on the awareness-raising front, a new strategic approach is needed in this area. The new strategic plan will include the development of a long-term and wide-ranging strategy for raising public awareness of violence against women in all its manifestations.

The strategic plan should be completed early next year and will be widely circulated at that time. Rather than rush into a new campaign at this stage, therefore, the Minister believes it would make for a more effective delivery of key messages to approach this issue as part of an overarching and fully integrated strategy.

While awareness-raising is an important part of tackling this problem, work is also ongoing on other fronts to combat rape. Key recent developments include work recently completed by a subgroup of the NSC, chaired by the Department of Health and Children, to identify means of improving forensic and medical services to victims of rape and sexual assault. In recognition of the key role the Rape Crisis Network, Ireland, continues to play in dealing with the crime of rape, grant funding to the organisation for a legal co-ordinator to support its work has been given. The co-ordinator is working closely with the Garda and other relevant agencies with a view to improving the response to victims, including the provision of training.

Some victims choose not to report sexual assault to the Garda. To understand what can be done about under-reporting and why only a relatively small percentage of reported cases result in a court hearing, the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform has approved joint funding for comprehensive research into attrition rates in rape cases. The research is being carried out by the law department at the National University of Ireland, Galway and the Rape Crisis Network, Ireland. It is being conducted over three years and is expected to be completed in 2007-08. Following completion of this research, action will, as appropriate, be taken by the Department to resolve any issues that may arise. All these initiatives will help to create a better situation for all victims of sexual violence.

I thank Deputy Catherine Murphy for raising this important issue.

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