Why do we still lack a sexual assault clinic in the mid-west?

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

The Hard Shoulder, with Ciara Kelly and Shane Colman, on Newstalk, with Ciara.

Shane Colman (0:08)

Now, Fianna Fáil TD has reiterated the call for a dedicated sexual assault clinic in the Midwest of the country. Ryan O'Mara called the lack of a dedicated unit in the region a glaring omission. He joins us now.

Ryan, there are six dedicated sexual assault treatment units across Ireland, but no facility serving the Midwest. Explain to us what the situation is, please.

Ryan O'Meara (0:33)

Yeah, so thanks very much for having me on this evening and for raising this really, really important issue. So at the moment, the six sexual assault treatment units in Ireland are in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Donegal, Mullingar and Watford, meaning there is none in the Midwest.

Now, what we have in the Midwest is a forensic medical examination service, and that is open from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Monday to Friday, and also 24 hours in the weekend, meaning that from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. during the week, the service is not available. But that's not the only issue which is timing or access at certain times of the day. It is also the type of service that is offered in a forensic medical examination in comparison with a sexual assault treatment unit. So a survivor of a sexual assault or rape in the Midwest would have, if they want to access the Forensic and Medical Examination Service, they would immediately have to report the incident to Garda before having access to that service in Limerick.

And that's compared with a sexual assault treatment unit in those other regions around the country where the forensic examination is available. But on top of that, there's immediate medical care, STI screening, psychological supports, and particularly the storage of forensic evidence for up to 12 months in those centers that is not available in the Midwest. But on top of that, what we are seeing, and the data shows it through a series of parliamentary questions over the last eight to nine months that I've been posing to the Minister for Health and the HSE, the amount of people traveling out of Tipperary, Limerick or Clare, and generally either to Galway or Cork for access to a sexual assault treatment unit. And it is a glaring omission. It's something that every other region has and we don't have in the Midwest. And I'm a TD for North Tipperary, but I'm not just raising it for North Tipperary, it is the entire region. And essentially what I'm talking about here is dignity and respect for people who have just survived an absolutely horrendous incident, that they have the level of care that they deserve timely and as close to home as possible.

Shane Colman (2:48)

So, what is the government saying? I mean, you're obviously a member of the wider government as a Fianna Fáil TD. Why is the government saying this has not happened?

Ryan O'Meara (2:57)

So when I start posing these questions to the Minister for Health and then through the parliamentary question process responses coming from the HSE earlier this year, the initial responses were essentially that no, there is no sexual assault treatment unit and there is no plan to establish one at the moment. And I did not accept that and I won't accept that.

So I followed that up with, I would say, probably close to two dozen parliamentary questions at this stage, digging into the data to prove that there is a need for one. I don't think that should have had to have been done, but that is the reality and that's what we're dealing with. So I did tackle the issue and to prove that between 2017 and 2025, for example, 350 people attended sexual assault treatment units out of the Midwest region, primarily in Cork or Galway. I also have the data on the number of people attending the Forensic Medical Examination Service in Limerick. And what it is proving, even though it's obvious, but we know of the data, is that there is demand for this service, but what is very, very important, particularly survivors, is that the amount of people that we don't know about who don't go to either service because we don't have the answer to you.

Shane Colman (4:09)

Just very briefly, if you can, Ryan, are you optimistic that this can change, that there will be such a unit in the Midwest?

Ryan O'Meara (4:16)

I genuinely think we have seen progress to date. We've gotten as far as the HSE doing a scoping report. Now, that has not yet been released, and that was part of my discussion in the DAL last week with the Tornishth. I now have questions submitted to the HSE and the Minister for Health on that. When it will be released, how much it will cost, so that I can continue this campaign. I must say, before I go, the Rape Crisis Centre in the Midwest has done incredible work on this also, and anyone who is interested in this issue that can support them, I would advise them to have a look at their website or indeed their social media to continue to put on pressure for what is a basic service that anyone should have going through what a survivor of sexual assault or rape goes through.