Sexual violence - Overhaul of system is long overdue

CAMPAIGNERS will be encouraged by the revelation that Health Minister Mary Harney is actively considering ways of streamlining the State’s response to Ireland’s growing crisis of rape and sexual assault.

This follows a series of Irish Examiner reports on the failure of Government policies on sex-related crime.

As a direct result of its refusal to adequately finance groups working at the coal face of this grave social issue, three of the country’s four rape treatment units are now under threat. Only the Cork centre, which receives official funding, is secure.