An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-10
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Sarah O'Reilly (AON), Agricultural Panel

Tonight in the Dáil, Deputies will be speaking on Report Stage of the Criminal Law, Civil Law and Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026. Within that Bill is a really important move to recognise counselling notes as legally privileged material. It is incredibly violating for victims of sexual abuse to have their counselling notes essentially handed over to their abuser and their legal team. I was listening to Paula Doyle on "Liveline" yesterday and I commend her courage in speaking out about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her partner. She spoke about the trauma she faced when her counselling notes were used against her by the defence. In her counselling sessions, she had described how difficult she found hugging her children because of how defiled she felt after years of sexual abuse. In court, they used this to try to frame her as a bad mother withholding affection from her children. It is absolutely disgusting that a moment of vulnerability in a private counselling session could be used as a way to discredit her as a loving mother. On "Liveline", Paula said "he took my body and then the State took my mind and handed it over to him." The very least a victim of abuse should expect is to have their innermost thoughts and feelings safeguarded from their predator. While I welcome the progress made in this Bill, I do not believe it goes far enough. The Minister indicated there would be a statutory presumption against disclosure of counselling notes but that is not what the legislation actually provides for. It leaves open routes for disclosure that many survivors fear could continue the very practice the Bill seeks to address. I am hoping the Minister will reconsider this when he comes before the Seanad.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-10/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:02+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-10