Court supports for rape survivors a 'postcode lottery'

Support for survivors of rape and sexual assault during court trials is a postcode lottery, according to Rape Crisis Ireland.

RCI Executive Director Dr Clíona Saidléar said while any rape crisis centre should be able to have someone accompany a survivor during the court process, the service is not funded the same way across the country.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, she said that Rape Crisis Ireland has been working with other rape crisis centres to try to get the Department of Justice to fund this "so that we have a professionalised service across the country."

Dr Saidléar said that currently, there is standardised training and then they draw from the existing staff of volunteers across the country.

"We really want to move it to the same model that other jurisdictions have, we are lagging behind at this stage and there is a postcode lottery in it."

Dr Saidléar mentioned the case of Nikita Hand who won a civil case against former MMA fighter Conor McGregor.

In November 2024, a jury at the High Court found that Mr McGregor raped Ms Hand in a hotel room in December 2018 and awarded her almost €250,000 in damages.

Dr Saidléar said Ms Hand had a professional accompaniment service during her case.

She said that when the decision came through and Ms Hand was not sure what had happened she "was able to turn to the person accompanying her from the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and say what happened and find out from there."

However, Dr Saidléar said, the civil court case also meant that Ms Hand had less protections that she would have had in a criminal court.

"... that she needed to take breaks and the behaviour of people around her, the space and the safety and security she felt while in that and while going through that… those sort of things where the courts have recognised the trauma that is there and the difficulty there is for survivors going through a court case," she said.

"We would like to see a professionalised government service in the same way that Nikita speaks of that she received in Dublin," she said.

Dr Saidléar said survivors often times ask about a civil case when the DPP rejects a criminal case.

Since Ms Hand’s case, more and more people are looking at this decision, she said.

"Getting over the standards set by the DPP is a massive hurdle, it is a huge point of attrition for the cases moving on," Dr Saidléar added.