Disclosure of counselling notes in trials to be restricted ‘as far as possible’

By Cillian Sherlock, Press Association

There will be a presumption of non-disclosure of counselling notes in sexual offence trials, under measures signed off by Cabinet.

Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan wants to legislate that such records are only released where a judge decides after a disclosure hearing that they contain evidence relevant to legal proceedings.

He said the measures would restrict the use of counselling notes “as far as possible” after Attorney General advice that a complete ban would be unconstitutional.

Mr O’Callaghan said: “The default position will be that counselling notes are not to be disclosed, save for the very small number of cases where disclosure is ordered by a judge and warranted in the interest of justice.

“This creates a form of statutory privilege whereby counselling notes are not disclosable unless there is a risk of an unfair trial.”

The same protection regime will be applied to other victims’ records containing sensitive personal data, such as medical records, child protection records and other such documents.

The Minister also secured approval for a disregard of certain historical convictions relating to consensual same-sex activity, as committed to in the Programme for Government.

This will operate as an application-based scheme.

He said: “The Victorian-era laws that criminalised consensual sexual activity between men are now rightly recognised as a historical injustice.

He added: “I am extremely pleased that the Government has agreed to my proposals for a statutory disregard scheme which seeks to acknowledge this injustice and to address meaningfully some of the harm caused to affected gay men, as well as their families and friends, during the period of criminalisation.”

He further secured Cabinet backing for the refusal of bail to prevent witness intimidation and failing to comply with requirements under the Sex Offenders Act 2001.