Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)

In the time between this debate beginning and ending, six women will have been murdered by family members. That is a shocking statistic from the UN. I support this Bill. I support anything that will help survivors of sexual assault to have peace in their lives. It is the very minimum that is needed, though.

In a previous Dáil, I introduced a Bill to provide for no-contact orders. Anybody should be able to prevent anyone who is harassing them from having any contact with them. They should not have to go to jail. We should be allowing people to prevent harassment in any way.

Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and, globally, there have been marches everywhere. There was a shutdown in South Africa while in Dublin, we marched to the Minister's office a short while ago. Some of the survivors and allies are here, as are therapists. We want action on the global pandemic but we also want to raise two things with the Minister. The DPP's threshold for prosecuting a case is a serious problem. Rebecca Clarke was one of those women and the Minister knows the case of Nikita Hand.

The other key issue is the ban on access to counselling notes, which has become a significant issue. We now have a situation where the Minister proposes to let a judge make the decision. That is not acceptable because it still creates the scenario of trial or therapy. The person who has been sexually assaulted or a victim of violence has to make that decision knowing that their notes could be accessed. We now have a situation where a full and complete ban is supported by survivors, therapists and all the professional bodies such as the Psychological Society of Ireland and the National Women's Council. The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre said the Minister's Bill must be withdrawn. The Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration is an all-party committee. I have seen videos of Government TDs calling for a complete ban.

The Minister has legal acumen and plenty of expertise to access. He can decide that counselling and therapy notes are not evidence. He can outline in a Bill all the reasons they are not evidence. They are third party. They are similar to hearsay. They are not the words of the person themselves. I do not know how this scenario has existed for so long. We have had previous rulings on this and I have no doubt that the Minister will be told that we cannot do this but I am telling him to find a way to do it because this has become a key issue for so many survivors and those who work with them and counsel them. The Minister should find a way to do it and find it now.

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