Ruth Coppinger: UCD must reinstate student

7,000 students marched in UCD, as you know, at the beginning of March in support and in solidarity with a student who had been drugged, raped, had image-based sexual abuse used against her and unfortunately also became pregnant, lost her place on her course and I know you're well aware of the issues. It was very positive in an era of an epidemic of gender-based violence, in an era where macho, you know, the manosphere has been promoted to see all genders there and all students there. They wanted justice for this student and they wanted her reinstated onto the course and they wanted an end to the multiple sharing of image-based sexual abuse. Unfortunately, those things have not happened. The student hasn't successfully been reinstated and also there have been further images of image-based sexual abuse as well. Now, your role in this or the government's role is that it is your duty to make colleges safe and to have good procedures and practices by authorities as well. I just want to raise about the academic issues, first of all, of getting her back to her dream of becoming a doctor, allowing her to salvage something from this horrific trauma. It's been a month since the Dean of Medicine responded to the medical student after the talks that did take place. She was assured they would reply after Easter. That hasn't happened. This is going against the thousands who marched, but it's also a rebuke to that student who put her faith in the process. As she said to me, it was difficult and upsetting to be let down and then to have to re-engage. We have an unprecedented situation here and unprecedented responses called for in terms of I know there are issues with academic qualifications, absolutely not saying this is straightforward, but I'm asking the minister to intervene with the college even more directly. I know he met the student. Because it's absolutely vital that we don't have a rapist continuing on and the rape victim is the one who suffers. I just also want to mention the culture in UCD. A number of people were emailed this image again, not on the UCD server, but people connected with the protests. The president herself, President Feely, was sent this image since this was raised publicly. This person is clearly saying F.U. to everybody else, the brazenness of it. But I tell you, this comes from the top, because the UCD legal team characterized a rape disclosure as dropping a bombshell. Those are the words that they used. This 21-year-old was crying on the stand. When she reported text messages that she received last year, she was told that she might be better to continue her studies in a different college year. These ideas are coming from the top. A medical student has written to me about the dean of medicine coming into the college, putting up a big QR code in the lecture hall, and going through what happened in the court. This student said to me, aborted on victim blame, and it was shocking to see somebody talking about a rape victim like that. So I think we have real problems still in our colleges. I want to thank Deputy Coppinger for raising this issue and this case again. I say that sincerely, and I know the intense and constructive way she's been engaging to try and support this student. I say that before I say the next piece, which is I'm genuinely not 100% sure how to answer this question, for the reason that I'm conscious, based on what you've told me now and what you've said previously in this House, that there obviously may be parts of this that require due process. There's very clear laws in this country, quite rightly, in relation to rape, in relation to sexual assault, sexual harassment, sexual violence. And obviously, on Garda Síochána are the people who enforce those laws, and no part of Irish society, no matter what kind of governing structure anybody has, or academic autonomy or anything else, is independent or separate to those laws. So I just need to be very conscious of that, and I'm not in any way being critical of the deputy, but obviously referring to a rapist or a rape victim, there's obviously places outside of Dái Dáil where quite rightly, importantly and appropriately, those issues should be determined and established. I want to join you in commending all the students who stood up and spoke up for zero tolerance when it comes to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, and the point that you made, that it wasn't just women or female students at that protest, but also men, because men can't recuse themselves in relation to this huge epidemic in Ireland, in relation to sexual violence. I fully agree with you in a broad sense that every college, every workplace, every educational setting has an absolute duty to be a safe environment, and I remember from my own time as Minister of Higher Education a significant body of work that was underway in the universities in terms of that, and therefore I am concerned and disappointed to hear it is an understatement to some of what you tell me here today. I'm conscious you've also said that some of this is not straightforward in terms of the academic piece, I acknowledge that, I do know that Minister Lawless obviously had an engagement with the student quite properly on foot, if you're raising the issue here, I will speak to Minister Lawless again, perhaps there's an opportunity to engage with the governing authority as well of the college, but I'll ask that Minister Lawless come back to you directly. And the final thing I'd say is that this House has taken very serious action quite rightly in recent years in relation to the sharing of intimate images, or indeed even the threat of sharing of intimate images under what we know as Coco's Law, and that law is very clear, very robust in that, and I expect the laws of this land to be applied without fear or favour, and clearly if there's any breaches of that, or complaints of that, or allegations of a breach of that, Garda Síochána should investigate it fully. Deputy Cochranger. Yeah, I wonder should the Minister ask for himself or one of his team if you'd like to be engaged in those discussions with the college and with the student, because it doesn't help when the Dean of Medicine walks into a lecture hall, spends half an hour undermining a student, and then is the person taking part in the discussion around the academic issues. What this medical student said to me was that a significant number of students perceive the supports now that are available in the college as performative, not something that they would engage in, because if you speak out you're going to be ostracised, and this is a male student by the way, and many of us felt our colleagues' credibility and reputation of the student were being undermined in front of our own eyes, that we would not talk about a rape patient in that way. So I think there's problems in the culture of, I'm sure it's not just UCD but other colleges. UCD has a DEI Athena Swan Award, you know, for its great ability to be inclusive. That's not reflected in the reality, and just to say, you know, a rape did take place just because somebody didn't report it, and you can see why, you know, tried to get on with their life. We know that from the image that was shared after, in any case, but I'm asking you to get the Minister to intervene as much as he can. So I'm not in any way, shape or form undermining or implying any doubt in terms of what the victim has said and said to you, and said to others, I'm just simply in the interests of respecting the role that I have versus the roles that others have in society. Obviously there's processes outside of here that have to establish fact, and I don't say that to be in any way lacking in empathy, but just to be factual. But your broader point that you make around the Minister and asking for the Minister's assistance or can the Minister provide any further assistance or guidance or linkages with the governing authority is certainly a point that I will discuss with Minister Lawless, and as I say, I know the Minister already met with the student and was eager to do so. The broader point I do want to make, and I made this point when I was Minister for Higher Education, there is an epidemic of sexual violence and domestic sexual and gender-based violence in Irish society, and our colleges and universities aren't immune from that. And therefore there was a very strict programme of action that they were all meant to undertake. And to hear you say, and I accept you say it in good faith, to use the word performative, is something that I know none of us would like to ever see. So I'll ask the Minister to reflect on that broader point too.