Dáil Report:Rape victims had to wait overnight for treatment in Dublin's Rotunda hospital because there was no doctor on duty, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the Dáil.
Mr Ahern said the issue had been correctly highlighted in the media. "There was a unit there, facilities there, no doctor there. We are spending €14 billion on the health service."
He added that there were "disputed facts" around what had happened. "I am not responsible for rostering doctors but the unit was on call. It should have been operational."
Mr Ahern said the resources were provided, and the women should not have been treated that way. "It should not have happened."
The Taoiseach was responding to Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, who said that an investment of €2.8 million would solve the problems in the sexual-assault units throughout the State.
"This should be a matter of political priority for everybody in this House, and outside it."
He demanded a commitment from the Taoiseach that the money would be provided so that "those who are, unfortunately, the victims of sexual assault, or rape, will have a unit to go where they can clean themselves, be cleaned, and where the evidence can be taken".
Mr Ahern said there were sexual-assault units in Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Letterkenny, while there was a request for one in Galway.
He said he understood that the Minister for Finance had dealt with the request for further resources in the Estimates. The service would be extended throughout the State.
Earlier, Mr Kenny described an initial response from the Taoiseach on the issue as "appalling".
The implication of the reply, said Mr Kenny, was that women who were sexually assaulted should just shut up, go away and be quiet.
"Nobody said that," said Mr Ahern.
Mr Kenny said: "If a number of your Ministers concentrated on their brief, instead of devoting all their time giving out about the Opposition, they might be better off."
He said Mr Ahern's official reply had not dealt with the "anguish, torment and the mental desperation of women who had been raped, and who had to sit in their own clothes on a Friday night, on a Saturday, until Sunday evening, because there was no doctor available".
A report, published in June, he said, had indicated that there was no unit in the west, none in the midlands, the one in Letterkenny was closed, the one in Cork did not operate effectively. "So you have Waterford and Dublin."
Mr Kenny said he had been informed by the Rape Crisis Centre that the weekend before last a garda had had to drive around a woman who had been raped and sexually assaulted because there was no unit to go to.
"That is absolutely appalling in 2006 when your Government is going to spend €54 billion next year."
Mr Kenny said rapists "should be put before the process of the law and put where they belong, behind bars.
"It is perfectly obvious that nobody is being arrested because the number of convictions is seriously down in the sense that only 5 per cent of reported rapes go to court."
