Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)

There is an irony in the Tánaiste saying we should all work together when the Government is stopping my Bill. The Government could have allowed the Bill to progress. We could debate it and it could amend it on Committee Stage. The problem with the Bill the Minister seems to be talking about is that it will not exclude the potential for counselling notes to be admitted. That is the problem. The actual potential of having one's therapy notes accessed is what creates the trauma and is what is putting people off taking cases. The Government will not exclude that, which is the problem. The right to a fair trial is very important, but so is the right to actually pursue a case for a crime committed against a person. There is no evidential value in counselling notes.

I blame Éamon de Valera for many things, but I doubt counselling notes were at the top of his agenda when he inserted the Article dealing with fair trials in the Constitution. A lot was said about zero tolerance, but every single misogynistic practice I highlighted in this House in 2018 is still going on in the courts. Clothing, underwear, contraception and alcohol and drug intake can all still be used against a survivor in court. All the victim-blaming is still there. None of that has been dealt with by successive Governments since the "I Believe Her" marches, the Cork rape trial or the Belfast rape trial.

That is the problem.

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