Rape Crisis Midwest opens new centre Misneach House in Nenagh

Rape Crisis Midwest opens new centre Misneach House in Nenagh

Rape Crisis Midwest opened its new Misneach House centre in Nenagh, County Tipperary

Rape Crisis Midwest opened a new counselling centre in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, on July 8.

The centre is now a base for RCM North Tipperary-based counselling services and is based in the centre of Nenagh town on Sarsfield Street.

Members of the public, Tipperary County Council, the Dáil and colleagues from across the Domestic, Sexual & Geneder Based Violence sector attended the opening.

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The centre has taken the name Misneach House, Misneach being the Gaeilge name for courage, which is a testament to the survivors who access RCM services. In opening remarks, Executive Director of Rape Crisis Midwest (RCM), Siobhán O’Leary, thanked the JP McManus ProAm Fund for their generous donation to fund the purchase of Misneach House.

The event also highlighted access barriers to appropriate sexual violence services in the Midwest, where there is no specialised Sexual Assault & Treatment Unit (SATU) for people to attend that have been recently raped or assaulted, in these cases people are required to travel to Cork or Dublin. While there is a Forensic Medical Exam (FME) Service in Limerick, this is an out-of-hour service and requires a report to be made to Gardaí in order to access it.

Siobhán O Leary said, “We remain in a situation where the people of North Tipperary and the wider Midwest do not have access to specialised SATU service. This remains a significant and unjust barrier in place for survivors and is something I will continue to highlight into the future. I am now calling on the government to review this situation with a view to establishing a SATU service in the Midwest.”  

Visit the Rape Crisis Midwest website for further information on the SATU Midwest campaign or email [email protected].

The opening of Misneach House represents a further growth of services for RCM, which is responding to new referrals and requests for support every day.

Siobhán O Leary added, “My hope is that with a stable and consistent base here in North Tipperary, RCM can now continue to highlight the barriers and challenges that persist for survivors of sexual violence and continue to campaign for appropriate and holistic services in North Tipperary and across the wider Midwest.”