11th December, 2002
Dr. Henry: I welcome the Minister of State to the House and I particularly welcome the mention in his speech of the fact that alcohol has been identified as such an important risk indicator in teenage pregnancy and the transmission of sexually transmitted infections. An even more serious issue I want to address is the importance of alcohol in drug-induced sexual assaults.
I have here the figures from the sexual assault treatment unit in the Rotunda Hospital for the years 2000 and 2001. There were 253 attendances in 2000 and 256 in 2001. Over one third of cases involved girls under 19 and almost 10% of cases involved girls under 16. In an enormous number of cases these young women had consumed huge quantities of alcohol. The toxicologist told us recently that there were lethal levels of 300-400 milligrams of alcohol in the blood of some of these young women. When we think that 80 milligrams is the limit for driving we can imagine the state these girls were in, especially given that some of them would have had very little experience of alcohol.
There was much talk from the mid-1990s about drug-assisted assaults and it was suggested that drugs such as Rohypnol, or benzodiazepine, were very important in the fact that so many young women could not even remember if they had been raped and their drinks had been spiked. When we discussed the "Prime Time" report, for which we should be most grateful, I was rather concerned that some Senators seemed to think that the spiking of drinks was common. These drugs are odourless and tasteless. In ten cases each year the sexual assault treatment unit sent specimens to check if rohypnol which lasts in the system for 72 hours was present in people's blood or urine. There was no rohypnol present, just lethal levels of alcohol. It is extremely important to recognise that alcohol is an important factor in sexual assaults.
The level of alcohol consumed was astonishing. Nineteen women admitted to having had eight or more drinks while a number of them could not remember what amount they had. One admitted to having drank 21 units. Some of them had also taken drugs such as methadone, cannabis, ecstasy and heroin. However, none had taken what are described as date rape drugs. It was not the case that somebody had spiked their drinks, their problems were self-inflicted. Some of the rape cases involved young men, eight in one year and ten in the next. Young women and men need to be warned that if they put themselves into such an intoxicated state, they are far more liable to be victims of assault.
The figures do not take account of the Well Woman Centre and general practitioners' clinics, where women call the following morning seeking the morning after pill because they do not know if they had sex, consensual or not, the previous night. This is a shocking state of affairs which I hope the Department of Health and Children will tackle it in its educational programmes. It is an extremely dangerous situation.
I am glad to hear so much sympathy being expressed for those who must work in accident and emergency units. All doctors and nurses must work in these units, but when I had to do it, I never encountered what is being experienced by those working in them now. Young drunk people lie around on mattresses until staff can get them to sober up. Some of the people concerned will have head injuries because they will have fallen. As it is hard to assess the head injury of a very drunk patient, some of them will die. This is a serious problem, not only for the dead person's family, but also for the staff who try to deal with the people concerned. I am glad to hear sympathy expressed for those who must work in such circumstances.
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