Support Is There, Whatever You Decide
If you are in immediate danger, call 999 or 112. The Rape Crisis Ireland 24-hour national helpline is 1800 778 888 — free, confidential, and for people of all genders. Sexual Assault Treatment Units (SATUs) provide medical care whether or not you report to Gardaí. Support is there whatever you decide to do — including deciding nothing today.
Most public understanding of legal responses to sexual violence begins and ends with the criminal courts — the State’s case, the State’s standard, the State’s decisions. This page is about the other instrument, the one that belongs to you: the civil claim — brought on your instruction, decided on the balance of probabilities, available whatever the criminal process did or didn’t do.
The Architecture
The claim runs most directly against the individual (trespass to the person), and — where facts support it — against institutions or employers answerable for how the harm was made possible (the institutional routes). Its independence from the criminal process is complete: no report, no prosecution and no conviction are preconditions, because the standards and questions differ — the full comparison at criminal vs civil. Where the assault was at work, the employment routes run in parallel as well: that map here.
The Three Honest Questions
Every genuine assessment covers them early. Time: limits exist alongside real extensions — date-of-knowledge principles and the statutory machinery for survivors of childhood abuse — making “too late” a legal conclusion, never an assumption (the framework). Recovery: damages are worth what can be collected, so the defendant-and-means analysis — individual, institution, insurer — belongs in the first conversation, not after proceedings issue. You: the process honestly described — the account given, the evidence assembled, the possibility of testing — against the tempering truths: your pace, your pauses, many claims resolved without hearing, support alongside throughout.
Time limits in these cases are short, strict, and depend on your exact circumstances — WRC complaints generally run on months, civil claims on years, and important extensions exist, particularly for survivors of abuse. Never assume you are out of time, and never assume you have time: take advice promptly. Nothing on this page is legal advice for your situation.
How the File Is Run
Confidentially from the first call, permanently. Nothing filed, sent or said without your instruction. Prepared for every step before it happens; free to pause or stop; the honest arithmetic maintained throughout. People of every gender bring these claims, and the road is walked at the pace of the person on it — the fuller account: the civil claims practice.
Understanding Your Options Costs Nothing
One confidential conversation: whether a claim exists, the honest arithmetic, and the clocks - with no obligation and no pressure, whatever you decide.
Call 01 5827148Related Reading
Civil Claims - FAQs
About the Author
Richard O’Shea, Solicitor practises with Mary Molloy Solicitors (established 1981), acting for whistleblowers facing penalisation, workers experiencing harassment, and people pursuing civil claims, throughout Ireland. Richard holds a Diploma in Mediation from the Law Society of Ireland — used in this work only as these cases should use it: as one option among several that always remain the client’s choice. Consultations are confidential. Contact Richard on 01 5827148 or richardoshea@marymolloysolicitors.com.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Every situation is different, and you should obtain advice on your own circumstances before acting. In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.