26/09/2025
This Tuesday, 30th September 2025 Éist will stand alongside ROSA and Therapists Against Harm outside Leinster House, continuing to call for a complete ban on the use of counselling notes in trials.
Éist co-founder Hazel Behan has been invited to address the Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration — ensuring that a survivor's voice is heard directly by those with the power to change our legislation.
For survivors of r**e and gender-based violence, having deeply personal counselling notes accessed in court is profoundly damaging. This invasive practice not only retraumatises victims but also deters many from seeking the care and support they need and deserve. No survivor should have to choose between justice and healing.
The government's proposed changes fall short. Half-measures are not enough. What is needed — and what we demand — is a complete and unequivocal ban on the use of counselling notes in trials.
This issue is rooted in a wider culture shaped by a misogynistic patriarchy — one that too often silences, disbelieves, and retraumatises survivors. Éist is committed to challenging this culture, to amplifying the voices of survivors, and to pushing for meaningful, lasting change.
We will continue to highlight not only this injustice but all barriers faced by survivors. Our message is clear: survivors deserve dignity, safety, and justice — nothing less.
