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Leaflet 14: Civil Legal Aid for Complainants in Rape and Certain Sexual Assault Cases

The term ‘complainant’ in this leaflet refers to a person who has made a complaint to the Gardaí about rape and / or sexual assault and in respect of which criminal proceedings have been initiated against the person alleged to be responsible.

Services provided

The Legal Aid Board provides legal advice and legal aid, i.e. representation in court, to complainants in certain cases of sexual assault.

There are two different services available and each of them is dealt with in turn in this leaflet.

1. Legal advice service
Legal advice is available to a complainant in a prosecution for certain sexual offences who wish to seek advice about the matter. A person seeking to avail of this service does not have to undergo a means test or pay a contribution to the Board for this service.

2. Legal aid service
Legal aid is available to a complainant in certain sexual assault cases where the prior sexual history of the complainant is being raised by a person accused of one or more of the following offences:

> a rape offence;
> aggravated sexual assault;
> aiding, abetting, counselling and procuring aggravated sexual assault;
> aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring attempted aggravated sexual assault;
> incitement to aggravated sexual assault; or
> conspiring to commit any of the foregoing offences.