On Tuesday evening, Ruth Coppinger TD told Dáil Éireann of a medical student in UCD who, in mid-2025, had a “nude, bruised and unconscious image of herself shared and circulated to a significant number of UCD Staff email addresses.”
On Tuesday evening, Ruth Coppinger TD told Dáil Éireann of a medical student in UCD who, in mid-2025, had a “nude, bruised and unconscious image of herself shared and circulated to a significant number of UCD Staff email addresses.” The Solidarity TD claims that, “The image was procured after she was raped by a student, a rape that she chose not to report - most women and victims do not report.”
Ms Coppinger continued, further stating that, “The picture showed her bruised and undressed. I will not be too graphic, but I want to bring home the levels of misogyny that we have in our society. A finger was pointing toward her vagina. She was clearly unconscious or asleep.”
“UCD is the biggest university in this state. It has tens of thousands of students in its charge. It does not seem to have due regard for safeguarding in respect of image-based sexual abuse or how to react. There was no compassion or real sympathy shown to the victim,” Ms Coppinger stated. “The way the victim put it to me was that [UCD] have had more warnings about littering the library than about the consequences of resharing images like this.”
Ms Coppinger told the Dáil that after the image was shared via email, “due to the inaction of UCD School of Medicine and the leadership of UCD in general, it was shared on a WhatsApp group of students”. The image was accompanied by “further rape threats and further threats to use objects to violently rape this person. This person was told she should take her own life.”
“[UCD] does not seem to have due regard for safeguarding in respect of image-based sexual abuse or how to react. There was no compassion or real sympathy shown to the victim,” TD Ruth Coppinger stated.
Class Representatives feel “UCD has failed”
In emails seen by the University Observer, class representatives for the year group of the students in the WhatsApp group chat reported the incident to senior figures within UCD and the School of Medicine. The email stated that the graphic image had been shared in a group chat with over 300 students. The class representative said, “This was, once again, very distressing for all of us to see”. They continued, “This group chat was made quite recently, so that it is evident that someone within it (i.e. a current UCD student ) is sharing the link”.
The email continued, “We strongly feel UCD has failed both [victim’s name] and its students by its inaction since the last attack.” In reference to the first incident of the image being shared, the class representative said “It has been over a month since a vile crime was committed against one of us, and yet no contact was made with any of the class representatives or [victim’s name] herself.” They claimed that the student had found out about the first and second incidents through the class representatives, and that no one from UCD had contacted her. “We find this extremely disturbing. As an institution, and especially as a medical school, you have a duty to your students. We feel unsafe.”
Ruth Coppinger TD puts blame on UCD for repeated incidents
Ms Coppinger continued, “It was horrific that this happened. I cannot blame UCD for the circulation of the image in the first instance, but I can blame it when it was subsequently shared on two further occasions. The first time was to the email addresses. The university contacted An Garda Síochána but did not make any contact with this young woman for about a week or a week and a half. That is absolutely outrageous”.
TD Ruth Coppinger continued, “It was horrific that this happened. I cannot blame UCD for the circulation of the image in the first instance, but I can blame it when it was subsequently shared on two further occasions.”
“It also never had a proper meeting with the victim of this image-based sexual abuse. Students who received this image subsequently were not warned. There was no huge meeting to explain the dire consequences of sharing image-based sexual abuse. No information was provided to students about safeguarding or risk assessment.”
In November 2025, the image was circulated to student group chats, accompanied by violent and misogynistic threats. In January 2026, it was circulated to a group of medical students at St. Vincent’s. Coppinger said that UCD “does not seem to have due regard for safe guarding in respect of image-based sexual abuse or how to react. There was no compassion or real sympathy shown to the victim in this case by the school of medicine either”.
Coppinger told the Dáil that, “On one occasion, the university newspaper was threatened if it took up this story.”
“The head of UCD should meet this victim… she does not want anything like this to happen to any student again. Clearly, UCD is not learning any lessons if it is not willing to do that.”
“I should also add that this student has suffered incredibly from the original rape, which she did not want to report because she knew she would probably not be believed. This sort of reaction by the UCD authorities does not bode well for anybody who wants to come forward in these situations.”
Dáil Debate
Ms Coppinger’s speech at the Dáil formed part of a wider debate which was being held in relation to a bill currently before the Dáil. Entitled ‘Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences (Amendment) Bill 2026,’ the bill, if passed, would serve as an amendment to the current Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020, updating the Act to prohibit the creation of non-consensual intimate or harmful imagery. The amendment specifically aims to target the ‘generation’ of non-consensual images, through the use of ‘artificial intelligence (including generative AI) or any other means’. The current Act was commenced in February 2021, making it an offence to distribute or publish intimate images of a person without consent. Such offences can involve a penalty of up to seven years imprisonment.
The 2020 Act is commonly referred to as Coco’s Law, named after Nicole ‘Coco’ Fox Fenlon, who took her own life in 2018 after relentless online bullying and harassment. Following her death, her mother, Jackie Fox, campaigned to criminalise cyberbullying. As of September 2024, Coco’s Law has resulted in 99 prosecutions since the act came into effect.
UCD’s Sexual Misconduct Policy specifically lists, “Making unwanted remarks of a sexual nature, either directly, or via text or social media apps,” “Sharing private sexual materials of another person without consent,” and Sexual harassment/sexual misconduct on social media,” as behaviour associated with sexual misconduct with cause for formal investigation.
On behalf of UCDSU, Education Officer Matt Mion said “We have been working alongside this student for a number of years and have been deeply disappointed by UCD’s response. We hope this story coming to light will make UCD finally do what is right for this student and others."
In a comment to the University Observer, UCD stated:
“The University cannot comment on individual cases. However, it is important to state that the University has a zero-tolerance approach to bullying, harassment, sexual harassment and sexual misconduct and takes these matters and the safety and well-being of its students very seriously.”
“It is also important to state that to ensure the safety and security of our campus community, we encourage all our students, staff and visitors to remain vigilant and report any and all criminal activity and behaviour directly to An Garda Síochána.”
“In addition to this, the University provides a suite of on-campus supports for students, including a fully comprehensive student support service provided through a team of 18 student advisors, one for each academic programme, who are in place to assist students with personal, social, financial and emotional issues in a safe and confidential environment.”
“There is also a fully staffed student counselling service available to students, which provides open, accessible professional psychological support to assist students with personal challenges that affect them during their time at university.”
“A full-time dignity and respect support service team is also in place on campus to support both students and staff who report issues of bullying, harassment or sexual misconduct.”
“As part of our student orientation programme, the University provides bystander training to all first-year students. This training programme informs students about consent and teaches them how a bystander can intervene to call out and prevent sexual harassment. This training programme is also made available to all incoming students in continuing years.”
“The University also has an online Report and Support Tool that enables students, staff and visitors to anonymously report incidents of bullying, harassment and sexual harassment that have been experienced or witnessed, without the need to identify oneself or disclose sensitive and personal details.”
The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre is available via its national 24-hour helpline at 1800 77 8888.
Women’s Aid helpline available at 1800 341 900.