IRELAND’S main sex assault treatment unit has attended to 27 rape victims since the start of August — the equivalent of one person every day.

President Michael D Higgins has criticised the fact that in some countries women have no rights to control their own fertility.

THERE will be no refuge for many victims of domestic violence who will flee their homes with their children over Christmas.

Free bereavement counselling must be offered to victims of crime who suffer traumatic events, support groups have said.

Women were tonight urged to be vigilant of sexual predators who plan to target victims over the Easter bank holiday weekend.

The eight-hour waiting time for rape victims in the South East has been eliminated by a new sexual assault treatment unit, it emerged today.

MORE people are reporting rape or sexual assault committed by a stranger or someone they just met, while a growing number of victims are also suffering physical violence, psychological abuse and intimidation.

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

Niamh Nolan

THROUGHOUT the Christmas period cinema screens will carry a hard-hitting ad campaign speaking directly to rape victims.

Counsellors were today bracing themselves for an onslaught of crisis calls after the latest horrific revelations of a Catholic Church cover-up of clerical sex abuse.

Gardaí are planning to submit a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions in the coming days in relation to a suspected gang rape on a 17-year-old girl.

The Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte has described reports of alleged garda misconduct at the Corrib gas pipeline in Mayo as "unedifying".

Victims of rape will be dissuaded from reporting the crime against them after witnessing the way the Ulster rape trial was conducted, it has been claimed.

Minister for Children Katherine Zappone says she hopes that a proposed new study on sexual violence in Ireland will move forward.

First-time callers to a rape crisis helpline increased by almost 20% last year.

Society should be shouting from the rooftops and insisting more be done to stop the escalation of rape attacks, according to the head of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre.

The DPP is to appeal the leniency of the 6 month prison sentence handed down to a Dublin businessman for a random sex attack on a woman as she walked home at night.