Gender-based violence survivors call for reform of Ireland's 'barbaric' legal system
Paula Doyle speaking at the press conference on Tuesday at Buswells Hotel in Dublin as she and other survivors of gender-based and sexual violence called for reform of Ireland's 'barbaric legal system'. Picture: Stephen Collins/Collins
After her case was adjourned for a second time, sexual violence survivor Paula Doyle was at such a low point, she could not see to the next morning, never mind the new trial date.
But still, she found the strength to reach out.
"I decided that I would reach out to every female politician that was in the Dáil at the time... and I got no response."
Ms Doyle was one of four survivors of gender-based and sexual violence calling on the Government to take real action to address the "barbaric legal system" women face in Ireland today.
"In 2019, I was raped. My personal experience of getting to trial in this country has felt inhumane and incomprehensible," Ms Doyle said.
"It took four and a half years. To start off with, to the State, you are not a victim. They don't see you as a victim, they just see you as a witness up against their convoluted justice system.
"There is no chance of recovery for a victim. You're holding on to your life by a thread and you are just barely surviving."
Ms Doyle said she felt as though she was on trial even before entering the courtroom when the DPP requested her counselling notes.
She described it as a second, deeper violation, that she was forced to endure noting that it is something that has made victims drop their cases and others not pursue a case at all.
"Can a victim not hold on to one minimalistic piece of themselves after all that has been taken?
"How is that fair? I would love somebody in Dáil Éireann to stand up and say how that is fair."
Another survivor, Sarah Grace, said the second violation of having her rapist "who caused the very devastation that I was trying to rebuild myself from" read her therapy notes was one she would never fully recover from.
She told how she wrote an open letter outlining seven major shortfalls in the criminal justice system to then justice minister Helen McEntee in the hope that what happened would never happen to another survivor.
"I failed," Ms Grace, herself a solicitor, told the room. "At the top of that list was the use of counselling records of rape victims against them as evidence in trial.
"Today, almost four years to the day from when that letter was written, every single recommendation stands. Not one has been addressed."
People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger, who has been calling for an end to the use of counselling notes by defence legal teams, said it is something that is only being used in cases of sexual and gender-based violence. Ms Coppinger said:
The Dublin TD, who will bring a 10-point Dáil motion in relation to gender-based violence next week, has also said that character references should be outlawed.
Ciara Mangan, founder of charity Beyond Surviving, described having to listen to character references provided to her rapist as a kick in the teeth.
The reading of character references is the final thing the court hears before a sentence is handed down and directly follows a survivor's victim impact statement — a moment Ms Mangan said is the most empowering part of the process.
"I delivered it. It was the first time that I was able to sit there with him beside me and he had to listen to me. What he did to me for the first time whereas he didn't have to say a word the entire trial," Ms Mangan said of reading her 13-page statement.
"You feel so empowered and you feel like you have reclaimed a part of your life back. Then they start handing up these references. 'He goes to the gym six days a week?' Who cares? What relevance does that have? He is a rapist."
This sentiment was echoed by fellow survivor and campaigner Natasha O'Brien who listened to her attacker — then a member of the Defence Forces — described as "exemplary", "professional" and "courteous" by his superior, Commandant Paul Togher in court.
"OK, he listens to orders in the forces but he enforces orders with his fists outside. So, what has this got to do with what he has done to me?
The four survivors said the Government is not doing enough to dismantle the "misogynistic" judicial system and instead the work and the onus is being put on survivors.
"Tragically, there have been six femicides within eight weeks in this State already in 2025. There were 1,600 domestic violence reports were made to Gardaí over Christmas week," said Ms Coppinger.
"Those who report do so to protect others from being harmed — their bravery should not be punished. Will the Dáil act or will it continue to pay lip service?"
The group called for people to join them on the streets of Cork, Limerick, and Dublin in protest on International Women's Day on March 8.
