Reforming court access to counselling notes must be carefully done

There are ways in which the law may be improved upon to ensure counselling records are only disclosed where necessary

Hazel Behan, survivor and campaigner with survivors of sexual violence in front of the Dáil on Monday to hear Ruth Coppinger introduce her Bill at First Stage to outlaw counselling notes being used by defendants in gender-based violence trials. File photo: Leah Farrell/© RollingNews.ie

For victims of sexual violence, counselling is an understandably important part of the recovery process, and a fundamental feature of any counselling process is confidentiality. 

Despite the importance of confidentiality in this context, the counselling notes of complainants in sexual offence trials have come to be regarded as a potential source of evidence. The 2025 Programme for Government contains a commitment to amend the law in this area. The question now is what this reform should look like.