victims of sexual assaults should be treated with greater dignity and sensitivity
Issued : Friday 27 April, 2007
Cllr McGarry has called on the government to treat women who have been victims of sexual assaults in the Sligo area with greater dignity and sensitivity. To provide the women of Sligo with an improved service the government first needs to increase funding to Sligo Rape Crisis centre. Cllr McGarry said that despite the unfortunate incidences of sexual violence towards women the government has capped core funding since 2002 to frontline services responding to violence against women.
This has resulted in organisations like Sligo Rape Crisis Centre struggling to deliver the services they offer. Sligo Rape crisis centre offers a port in a storm to women who have been victims of sexual violence. In addition to talking women through the procedural aspects involved in making a complaint they also offer emotional support and guidance. I am calling on the government to give increased, multi-annual funding to Rape Crisis centres in order than they can in turn offer the public improved provision and protection. The centre desperately needs funding to make the present part-time positions of Administrator and Co-Coordinator into more paid counselling hours. This would enable them to provide an outreach counselling and support service throughout Sligo, Leitrim and West Cavan and to run their awareness raising and training programme.
Cllr McGarry continued by saying that he also found it disgraceful that seven women have had to travel from Dublin from the Sligo/ Leitrim region for forensic medical examinations since June 2006 because this service is not available in Sligo. The indignity suffered by the women by having to travel to Dublin after such a serious trauma is intensified by the fact that before such an examination can occur the victim cannot wash or change their clothes. This is a human rights abuse and simply not be tolerated said Cllr McGarry. We need a sexual assault treatment unit with trained forensic staff to serve Sligo, Leitrim and West Cavan.
Cllr McGarry also spoke out about the geographical discrimination suffered by women in rural areas by not having outreach facilities available to them. These outreach facilities would include counselling and support services for survivors of sexual violence throughout the counties of Sligo, Leitrim and West Cavan. Community centres such as those situated in Manorhamilton & Ballymote have already given a commitment to Sligo Rape Crisis Centre that they will provide a venue from which the services can be based. In 2005, Sligo Rape crisis centre conducted a Feasibility study into the need for outreach rape crisis services in the Sligo/Leitrim region. This study showed that 85% of respondents said an outreach centre in their area would be very useful with the remaining 15% saying it would be fairly useful.
The final element involved in dealing with this problem is to invest in prevention, education and training to ensure that these attacks can be minimised insofar as possible. We must commit to a prevention and awareness programme for the Sligo, Leitrim and North Cavan region. The Rape crisis centre has excellent training materials available to them tailored for pupils, students and other voluntary and statutory agencies. They have been asked by some schools to come and speak to students yet they lack the staff or other resources to deliver the training. Realistically they need a fulltime trainer to deliver their prevention, awareness raising and education programmes in a consistent, accessible and professional manner.
Cllr McGarry concluded by saying that these are honest and feasible solutions to the problem of sexual violence which if elected he will work to deliver.
Cllr 
