Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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180. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the timeline for legislation to be published regarding the use of victims' counselling notes during sexual assault trials; if he acknowledges the lack of knowledge for victims surrounding this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24171/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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The disclosure of counselling records is a complex and highly sensitive balancing of individuals' rights and I am committed to ensuring that legislative provisions balance the victim’s right to personal privacy and the accused person’s right to a fair trial.

Last week, I secured Government approval for the drafting of the General Scheme of the Criminal Law and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025.

The proposed legislation includes measures to ensure that counselling records are only released where the Court decides that they contain material relevant to legal proceedings.

To achieve this, it proposes to amend the existing legislation by requiring that a disclosure hearing takes place in all cases, removing the provision that allows for this to be waived.

While the law in this area was substantially reformed in 2017 by the insertion of section 19A into the Criminal Evidence Act 1992, I believe the new Bill supports achieving greater balance and transparency. Section 19A of the 2017 Act, created a process designed to strike this balance by allowing courts to assess the relevance of counselling records through a judicial process.

The judge examines the counselling records and holds a disclosure hearing (at which the complainant is entitled to appear and be legally represented) to decide if there is relevant information which ought to be disclosed to the defence. In a very small number of cases, records may contain evidence of relevance to the trial. However, it appears that this provision has not operated in practice as intended.

I have listened to the views of victims and survivors who have made clear that they have felt compelled to agree to waive the disclosure hearing in order not to put a successful prosecution at risk or risk delaying their trial, and their records are routinely being released.

I am fully aware of the distress and re-victimisation that disclosure of personal records can have on survivors of sexual violence, including counselling records.

Therefore the amendment will ensure that the original intention of the legislation will apply, mandating courts to assess the relevance of any counselling records through a judicial process.

The General Scheme of the Bill has now been referred to Office of the Parliamentary Counsel for drafting. The General Scheme will also be referred to the Justice Committee for pre-legislative scrutiny and, when its report is received, work on finalising the Bill will be prioritised.