Noeline Blackwell
speaker
211 appearances
3 recordings
1 series
first heard Apr 2026
last heard 2d ago
Noeline Blackwell’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 3 in all, peaking in Sep 2026 with 1.
Appearances
But it's not actually to strengthen the case.
The DPP does not need those notes for the case.
The DPP is taking a legal case.
They are depending on the Garda statements, like in any other crime.
One of the quirks that has come in over the past 30 years is
is this capacity of the accused to demand to see health notes.
This doesn't happen, David, in the case of the robbery of a car or even a physical assault a lot of the time.
This is particular to sexual offences.
It is because
The victim in these cases traditionally was not trusted by the legal system, so their health notes are handed over.
The DPP would never look to see them if they weren't afraid that the defence would try to tear holes in the case by looking at them.
The DPP never needs them to strengthen the case and unless...
the defence had looked for them, they would never use them to bolster a case.
That's the Garda job.
That's the legal job.
And that's why the Minister for Justice is proposing a change so that we will switch the balance.
Ideally, you would not have counselling, you would not have health records brought into court at all for all the reasons Barbara outlined.
But now it is proposed to reduce that so that there must be a court order before the defence can actually see them.
And that will at least reduce the capacity of the defendant to intimidate the client or to intimidate the victim.
Because what actually happens is the victim will often say, I don't need them knowing about the rest of my life.
Showing 161–180 of 211 · page 9 of 11
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