Dr Clíona Saidléar and Dr Sinéad Ring

The report, What’s Sex Got to Do with It? Sexual Experience Evidence in Irish Rape Trials, is authored by Dr Sinéad Ring, associate professor of law at Maynooth University’s School of Law and Criminology, as an independent academic report, supported by RCI.

The first qualitative study of section 3 of the Criminal Law (Rape) Act 1981, the report draws on 21 in-depth interviews with barristers, solicitors, policy specialists, court accompaniment workers and Legal Aid clerks with direct experience of how the law operates in practice. It was supported by Research Ireland’s New Foundations Programme and by the School of Law and Criminology, Maynooth University.

The research will be launched by Ms Justice Úna Ní Raifeartaigh, judge at the European Court of Human Rights, at an RCI symposium, ‘The Relevance Test in Practice: Evidence, Justice and Survivors’ Rights’, in the Criminal Courts of Justice this evening.

Catherine Ardagh TD, Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, will open the event, which will explore the application of the relevance test in Section 3 (Sexual Experience) and Section 19A (Disclosure of Third-Party Records) applications before the courts.

Prof Vanessa Munro, Professor of Law at University of Warwick, will reflect on Dr Ring’s findings and share perspectives on the interpretation and practical challenges surrounding the relevance test.

Key findings of the report:

In 2025 at least 39 per cent of sexual offences trials involved an application to introduce evidence of and cross examination on the complainant’s sexual history - a figure the report describes as surprisingly high.

Although overt character attacks on complainants have declined, arguments for admitting this evidence continue to rely on the same discredited inferences the rape shield was designed to exclude - that prior consent predicts later consent, and that a complainant’s sexual history undermines their credibility.

Two groups face particular risk of intrusive cross-examination: adults who were in a relationship with the accused, and child or adolescent complainants - the latter often questioned about matters as far removed from the offence as social media use or accessing pornography.

Section 3 applications are frequently made with little notice, sometimes on the first day of trial, limiting complainants’ ability to engage with the process and placing pressure on the Legal Aid Board to source a Separate Legal Representative (SLR) at short notice.

The quality and experience of SLRs - who represent the complainant’s interests at these hearings - varies considerably.

Recommendations:

The report calls for section 3 to be repealed and replaced with a new, more tightly defined provision, alongside procedural reforms including written notice requirements, a right for SLRs to access the application and underlying evidence, mandatory written reasons for court decisions, a dedicated Legal Aid Board panel of experienced barristers for the SLR role, and ongoing specialist training for both SLRs and the judiciary.

Speaking ahead of the event, Ms Ardagh said: “Thank you to Rape Crisis Ireland for hosting this event today. I commend Dr Saidléar and her team for their tireless advocacy on behalf of victim-survivors of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. In the last numbers of years, we have moved from a fragmented system to a coordinated national response, taking decisive and system-wide sustained action to protect survivors, prevent violence and to ensure perpetrators are held to account. Combatting all forms of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence remains a priority for this Government as well as ensuring victims and survivors are fully supported.”

Dr Ring, author of the report, said: “This research shows that, decades after it was introduced, the rape shield is not doing the job it was designed to do. Complainants are still being asked about their sexual history in ways that rely on outdated and discredited assumptions about what a ‘real’ rape victim looks like. The law needs to change, but so does how relevance is understood and argued in these applications.”

Dr Clíona Saidléar, executive director of RCI, said: “Dr Ring’s report gives us, for the first time, an evidence-based picture of how the rape shield actually operates in Irish courtrooms, and it confirms what survivors have long told us: that going through the criminal justice system can mean having their private lives put on trial alongside the accused. It is also perversely acting to reinstate sexist rape myths long discredited. RCI will be using these findings to press for the legislative and procedural reforms survivors deserve.”