Rise in number of males attending Cork Sexual Assault Treatment Unit  

Dr Margo Noonan, head of the Cork Sexual Assault Treatment Unit. Picture: Dan Linehan

A record number of people attended the Cork Sexual Assault Treatment Unit last year, with a significant rise in the number of men attending the facility.

Margo Noonan, head of the Cork SATU, said provisional data indicated there were 190 new cases — a significant jump on the numbers seen in 2021 and higher than the previous peak of 165 people in 2019.

Ms Noonan also said the numbers included as many as 15 men — far higher than the usual number of two or three in recent years — which she said "reflects what I have been shouting and screaming about for so long."

She said there had been increased awareness of men being victims of domestic and sexual crime in recent years and that "rightly or wrongly" the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard case had also generated discussion.

The increased numbers at the Cork Unit come as the six SATUs nationwide  — Dublin, Donegal, Galway, Waterford, Mullingar and Cork — saw more than 1,000 people in a year for the first time, and after a year in which outreach clinics began in Bantry and more recently in Tralee.

The latter facility began welcoming clients in December and has so far seen five people.

Follow-up care

Ms Noonan said that like the Bantry clinic, it allows for a variety of follow-up care to be provided for people in a more convenient location, meaning they are less likely to have to take time off work or pay higher transport costs.

She also said having a different venue for follow-up care was also less traumatic for some people, who may be reluctant to attend again at the Cork Unit where they first presented.

"They'll get to the door and then the tears would start flowing," she said.

Regarding the Kerry facility, Ms Noonan said: "The feedback has been phenomenal. We have had four or five people use it but we have bookings for the next couple of months.

"I think they [the number of people attending] will go much higher in Tralee. Bantry went down a little bit, Tralee is very consistent."

Forensic services

In Cork, the SATU is getting a second refrigeration unit due to the number of people providing DNA samples for storage because they have yet to decide if they wish to make a report to gardaí about what happened to them.

All forensic services will remain in Cork while the outreach centres provide follow-up care. Ms Noonan said the presence of the clinics was also assisting society in other ways.

"Since we started talking about it and coming on stream we have had a number of schools come to us looking for the schools programme," she said.

"The word seems to be spreading and schools ask us if can we link in.

"The university in Kerry is embracing it as well, we are doing some work with the faculty about disclosures."

The outreach clinic operates one day a month and Ms Noonan said: "I envisage it will be a very busy centre."