RAPE ranks among the most heinous of crimes, and it is therefore extremely worrying that sexual attacks

THE support group One in Four has vowed to continue assisting victims of sexual abuse despite a 24% cut in funding.

ONE-IN-FIVE women is abused by her partner, yet the Government has done little to tackle domestic violence, Amnesty International has claimed.

ALMOST 300 serious crimes were committed every day last year — 55 more daily than in 2001.

I HAVE written to the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, to express the serious concern of the Irish Refugee Council about the appalling insensitivity shown recently to a number of immigrants and their children by certain officials of the state.

WOMEN joined together yesterday to observe a minute’s silence for the 107 women murdered in Ireland since 1996. Against the backdrop of a giant in memoriam card each woman was represented by a white lily.

INCREASING numbers of refugees and migrants who have suffered sexual violence in their home countries are providing fresh challenges for rape crisis services.

THE growing level of violence accompanying the heinous crime of rape is extremely disturbing.

ONLY 1% to 2% of reported rape cases in Ireland result in a conviction, figures show. Ireland has the lowest conviction rate of 21 European countries surveyed.

THE DPP should be made accountable and give reasons for decisions not to pursue rape cases, leading academics and rape help groups have urged.

RAPISTS in Galway have a greater chance of getting away with the crime because victims have to travel 300 miles to be forensically examined, it was claimed yesterday.

PROPOSALS that Minister for Justice Michael McDowell will bring to the Cabinet tomorrow on how best to formally inquire into allegations of clerical child sex abuse would appear to be going generally in the right direction.

A REPORT from Britain will influence if nurses here are trained to carry out forensic examinations on sexual assault victims.

THE country’s struggling network of sexual assault units will collapse without extra funding, rape crisis centres have warned.

NO reference was made to sexual abuse in the State’s first official document referring to non-accidental injury of children, the Inquiry into Child Abuse heard yesterday.

IRRESPECTIVE of age or sex, the decision arrived at by Mr Justice Paul Carney this week in the case of a young man who pleaded guilty to the rape of a much older man is perplexing in the extreme.

THE Director of Public Prosecutions is investigating ways to inform victims of crime why their case won’t be prosecuted.

THE number of rape and aggravated sexual assault cases being brought to court has fallen by an alarming 70% over the last six years, figures from the Court Service have revealed.

Cormac O’Keeffe

RAPE and sexual attacks by complete strangers are on the increase, the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre has warned.