Sexual Assault Treatment Units are planning to allow victims of sexual assault or rape the option of preserving biological evidence for a year.
This will give them time to decide whether they want to press charges after a sexual assault.
There are six SATU units in Ireland which provide services to women and men who have been sexually assaulted or raped.
Doctor Maeve Eogan, Clinical Director of the Rotunda Sexual Assault Treatment Unit and the national SATU services, says the service could be up and running by January 2015.
