Donegal’s Sexual Assault Treatment Unit (SATU) has seen a 10% increase in individuals seeking support in the past year.
A total of 128 people attended the HSE-funded unit in Letterkenny in 2024.
This is the highest attendance in the past five years.
Patients ranged from two children under 14 years of age to seven people in their 70s and up.
The 18-25 age group continues to be the largest cohort, with 34 service users making up 27% of those attending.
There were 25 children under 18 years of age, which accounted for 20% of attendances in Donegal.
The SATU provides individuals with a health check, medication, and forensic
examination services.
The Letterkenny unit recorded an increase in “Garda Forensic kits” cases last year, which are those where an individual reports sexual violence to An Garda Síochána and undergoes a forensic medical examination to collect evidence for a potential criminal investigation, rising from 22% of cases in 2023 to 34% in 2024.
The Donegal unit saw a slight rise in “no Garda ‘Option 3′” cases, which involve a forensic examination and the storage of evidence for up to a year, allowing the individual time to decide if they wish to report the assault later. These cases increased from 11% to 13%.
“Health check” cases, which focus solely on medical care and sexually transmitted infection prevention, saw a decrease of 9%, making up 28% of attendances in 2024.
The Donegal SATU successfully provided a forensic clinical examination to all 41 patients (100%) who contacted the service requesting this within three hours.
There was a total of 1,021 attendances across the six SATUs in Ireland last year. Donegal was the fourth busiest in the country.
Image source: SATU Annual Report 2024
In 2024, incidents where the perpetrator was described as a stranger rose by
3% to 31% (369 cases).
