- Opinion
- 04 Jun 26
'Keep Counselling Notes Confidential': Protest in solidarity with survivors of gender and sexual violence to take place outside Dáil
The protest will take place on Wednesday, June 10 at 5pm.
A protest is set to be organised outside the Dáil in solidarity with survivors of gender and sexual violence next Wednesday, June 10 at 5pm.
It will aim to protest against the use of counseling notes in court proceedings, particularly in sexual assault and gender-based violence trials.
Announcing the protest on Instagram, the ROSA Socialist Feminist Movement said that the use of therapy notes in a criminal trial was “only included as a way to dig up potential means to discredit victims of gender and sexual violence, a practice common in the legal system that is dripping in misogynistic perpetuation of rape myths.”
While, in February, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan claimed that therapy notes would be given a presumption of non-disclosure, the ROSA Socialist Feminist Movement said that “the government is planning to ram through their ramshackle and deeply harmful wording against the wishes of survivors, therapists and campaigners by instituting a mandatory pre-trial hearing to determine whether the notes should be handed over.
“This is a genuinely terrifying prospect for victims/survivors,” the statement continued. “It will exacerbate a chilling effect, preventing survivors from coming forward and/or from seeking therapy to heal. No way can a proposal that is so odious, proceed.”
Check out the ROSA Socialist Feminist Movement’s full statement below:
View this post on Instagram
