Lack of services for child abuse victims

Child victims of suspected sex abuse still cannot access timely specialist forensic medical examinations, except in small pockets around the country — and at times, cannot get examinations at all, a leading specialist has warned.

Four years after a HSE-commissioned report urged that concerns must be “addressed urgently”, services remain limited for under 14-year-olds presenting following suspected sexual abuse, said Dr Joanne Nelson, clinical director of the Galway Child and Adolescent Sexual Assault Treatment Service (CASATS).

“Paediatric forensic medical services in Ireland are seldom available outside of working hours even though all available research shows that DNA evidence in pre-pubertal children is very rarely found more than three days after a sexual assault,” Dr Nelson said.