Dublin Rape Crisis Centre’s Noeline Blackwell: ‘We have not fully uncovered the extent of the harm yet’

We have yet to “fully uncover the harm” of sexual violence in Ireland, says Noeline Blackwell (67) as she steps down after more than seven years as chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC).

Though she has seen “huge” change in attitudes to – and understanding of – sexual abuse and violence, she remains frustrated that agencies at the frontline of combating domestic, sexual and gender-based violence are not fully funded by the State.

When she took up the role, having spent over a decade leading the Free Legal Advice Centres (Flac), she was struck by how often she was asked if DRCC would consider removing the word “rape” from its title “because it was off-putting”.

“There was that sense that, ‘It would be easier to support you if you didn’t have that in your name’. People would run for us in marathons but they wouldn’t have our name on their T-shirt. The view of the centre was: ‘If we couldn’t talk about rape, who could?’”

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Since then, there has been the #MeToo movement, which grew in 2017, and, in May 2018, the repeal of the Eighth Amendment.

These opened conversations about the meaning of “consent”, and people’s right to their own bodies. In politics, a series of justice ministers, including Frances Fitzgerald, Charlie Flanagan and the current Minister Helen McEntee – and Simon Harris when Ms McEntee was on maternity leave – pursued a legislative agenda of tackling domestic, sex and gender-based violence, she says.

Men often do not see the steps women take from the time they are very, very young to protect themselves from sexual violence

“These are all significant, have changed the landscape in the last decade. But we still have a long way to go. I think we have not fully uncovered the extent of the harm yet. While more people are coming forward looking for help, which we really welcome, we are not there yet.”

She sees a difference in attitudes to domestic violence and sexual violence. The DRCC annual report for 2022, published on Thursday, shows a 30 per cent surge in contacts to the helpline last year compared with 2021.

She notes the contrast between reporting of domestic violence, which increased during the Covid years of 2020 and 2021, and that of sexual violence. While there are practical reasons – such as the need for refuge and court orders – for why domestic abuse may be reported quicker than sexual violence, she sees attitudinal barriers too.

“Domestic violence and sexual violence ... are allied [but] they report very, very differently. People report domestic violence in real time mainly. Sexual violence is still reported in arrears.

“So during the worst of the lockdown our phones were not busy. There’s a big increase in our calls for 2022, which I put down to Covid being over in 2022.”

People may “put up with” sexual abuse or violence “because they still believe people won’t believe them or they say it was their own fault”. They often feel they “have to carry the trauma” longer before seeking support.

It was “much less likely now” that if someone said their partner had “belted” them that anyone would ask in response how they had brought it on themselves, whereas that fear was still present for more victims of sexual assault, she said.

There was a need for deep, society-wide conversations around the meaning of consent to better understand the harm of sexual violence on women. She refers a number of times to the sense of “entitlement” many of us have, not only sexually, but socially, economically and racially, which feeds into wider, uncomfortable conversations about consent and the impact of our entitlement on other people’s rights.

“We are all handicapped by our entitlement, by our stereotypes ... Men would get very, very defensive when we raise these issues that women are more impacted by sexual violence and men are more likely to perpetrate it. We get the hashtag #notallmen.

“And of course, not all men engage in sexual violence. But, all men have an understanding of life that does not encompass what it is like to be in fear in the same way that women do. They often do not see the steps women take from the time they are very, very young to protect themselves from sexual violence.

“If we can have the conversation based on the principle: ‘Does this situation look equal?’ then we could get a tipping point where more people understand the concept of consent than not.”

She stresses it is “unreasonable” for the State to require agencies at the front-line in tackling gendered violence to provide services without sufficient funding to recruit enough front-line staff.

She welcomes a more than 30 per cent increase in contacts to the national helpline last year to 18,400, compared with 2021, but describes as “hugely disappointing” that the centre was able to provide fewer therapy appointments – down from 580 to 551 in the year – “because we couldn’t hire the therapists”.

DRCC saw its complement of therapists fall from 15 to 11 last year. Blackwell puts the blame for this at Government’s door, and the enforced pay disparity for therapeutic professionals employed in the public sector and the community and voluntary sector.

“We cannot compete with the HSE and when DPER [Department of Public Expenditure and Reform] says they are not responsible for salaries in the voluntary sector, that is not the point. The State outsources services to us, expects us to do them and unless they fund those services we cannot do them,” she says.

[ Dublin Rape Crisis Centre launches online guide for sexual violence victims ]

A strike on the issue across community and voluntary organisations, due to start on Tuesday, was averted following publication of proposals to address the issue.

“We are part-funded by the State for services we provide on its behalf. That funding has been going up over time but we are not funded on a full-cost basis yet. We are hoping that the new agency does understand the need to fully fund the services they ask us to supply.”

Noting that Ms McEntee “got €12 million extra for the set-up of the new agency”, she added: “So I think she has heard that message loud and clear”.

DRCC 24-hour free helpline: 1800 77 8888