Criminal Law, Civil Law and Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Report and Final Stages Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-02 ============================================================ Aubrey McCarthy (IND), University of Dublin I thank the Minister for being here. I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important debate. At the heart of the legislation is a simple question. How do we protect the right to a fair trial while also protecting those who have already experienced trauma? There have been examples given. There are visitors in the Gallery and Paula's own story was given. The legislation must and can do both. Counselling is one of the few places where survivors of abuse, sexual violence and domestic violence get the opportunity to speak freely. It is where they begin to process fear, shame and trauma. They do so believing that what they are saying is confidential except in the most exceptional circumstances, which are provided for by the law. If people begin to fear that their counselling notes could routinely become part of a criminal trial, many then will simply stop talking. The Minister knows that I am involved in Tiglin. We have a women's refuge. Some of the women have told me that if this became the case, they would avoid counselling all together. It would involve censoring themselves. That would be a huge tragedy for themselves and not just for themselves for healing from the trauma but also for society. Before entering politics, I spent 20 years working with men and women who have come from a traumatised background. Since this legislation came to public attention, I have been contacted by many women asking whether it will automatically mean that their counselling notes will be disclosed, whether, if I was in their shoes, I should stop going to counselling and whether what they tell their counsellor is really private. The fact that survivors are asking those questions should concern us all in this House. Counselling notes are not statements prepared for court. It is where somebody feels vulnerable enough to share what has happened to them. It is often the case that when people are vulnerable, they start questioning themselves and asking whether they led that person on, which would not be the case but people start to question in a very protected place with their counsellor. These should not be police reports or forensic reports. They are often a record of somebody's healing journey where memories are explored and emotions are expressed and then their trauma is processed. They are written strictly for therapeutic processes and not evidential ones. Of course, the rights of an accused person are fundamental. Every person must be entitled to a fair trial. Nothing should diminish that. Victims, however, such as Paula who has been mentioned here, have the rights. They need the right to dignity and privacy and to recover from that trauma without fearing that the most intimate conversations that they have had with a professional counsellor may later be examined in an open court unless there is a compelling and clearly justified reason for doing so. That is why the threshold for disclosure must be exceptionally high. Applications should be based on genuine necessity and relevance, not speculation or used as fishing expeditions. Judges should continue to act as careful gatekeepers weighing the justice, of course, against the real risk of causing further harm to the victims, as Senator Stephenson said. Over many years, we have encouraged survivors to come forward - that has progressed over recent years - to report abuse and seek counselling. We should not undermine all that progress. If we even have a small number of victims deciding not to help themselves because they fear that counselling records may be later exposed, then we fail and fail badly. This legislation is much more than about legal procedure, it is about trust. It is about trust in the justice system. It is trust that when somebody takes the brave step to ask for help that we protect their rights but we also protect their dignity. I hope that in this House we can continue to uphold the constitutional right to a fair trial but also the equally important principle that counselling must remain a place of safety, healing and hope. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-02/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:09+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-07-02