The Government will bring forward legislation to amend current laws around the use of counselling notes in rape and sexual assault trials, the Dáil has heard.
Minister for Transport, Climate, Energy and the Environment Darragh O’Brien also said the Government agrees that there needs to be “more done” in terms of safe refuge places for women.
Mr O’Brien was speaking during Leaders’ Questions on Tuesday in response to Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns, who said violence against women “is an epidemic in our society”.
Ms Cairns asked why women’s counselling notes are still being used in trials for rape and sexual assault and highlighted that nine counties remain without a women’s refuge.
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The Cork South-West TD was speaking as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women was observed.
Mr O’Brien, who was standing in for the Taoiseach, said there should be no tolerance for violence against women. He said the Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan, will be bringing forward legislation “toward the end of this year or very early next” to deal with the use of counselling notes. .
The Fianna Fáil TD also said Mr O’Callaghan is seeking to introduce other legislative changes allowing for the removal of guardianship rights of a person who has been convicted of killing their partner, as well as a register run by the courts for perpetrators of domestic violence.
Mr O’Brien said there are 52 new family refuge units planned for the end of 2026.
“Work is advancing on the nine [refuges] mentioned, one of them in north Co Dublin,” he said. “I’m very aware of what’s happening there … this is something we’ve got to continue to work on. I just want to assure you it is an absolute priority for both the Minister for Justice and the Government,“ he said.
Ms Cairns referenced a recent court case in which a 25-year-old man who subjected a 17-year-old student to a 20-minute rape ordeal near her home in west Cork had been jailed for six years.
The Social Democrats leader said “too often” in the absence of high-profile cases, there was a “lack of political focus” on the issue of violence against women.
“The grim reality is that 52 per cent of women in Ireland have experienced sexual violence. That is more than one million people, and that’s probably an under-reporting,” she said.
“But what’s being done about it? Because it seems like pervasive levels of violence against women are something we’re just somehow supposed to accept and tolerate as the price of being a woman.”
Sinn Féin will bring forward its Victims of Sexual Violence Civil Protection Orders Bill 2025 in the Dáil on Tuesday evening, which seeks to extend protections in existing harassment legislation to victims of sexual violence.
The party’s Dublin South Central TD Máire Devine said the Bill was “desperately needed” to give survivors “peace of mind and safety”.
