Please join One in Four in thanking Frances Fitzgerald, Tánasite, Minister for Justice and Equality, for all her vital work on the Sexual Offences Act by signing this petition.

The Act had provoked strong opposition from some of our male politicians because one of its effects is to criminalise the purchase of sex for the first time. It will both help to prevent the sexual abuse of children and for those who are abused, will help reduce the trauma of the criminal trial.

The Sexual Offences Act makes these several new important changes:

• There will be new constraints on the possibility that the survivor could be cross-examined by the accused person.
• And for the first time, if the survivor has been in counselling, their counselling notes cannot be automatically obtained by the accused person and his defence team.
• The presiding judge will have no powers to decide if the notes should be produced, and which sections of the notes should be allowed.
• The right to privacy of the survivor and the public interest in encouraging survivors to receive psychological support without the fear of their counselling notes being read by their abuser have been strengthened.