Mr Justice Alexander Owens yesterday ruled that Ms Hand is entitled to her legal costs, including discovery and reserved costs, which could total more than €1 million.

The costs were awarded on the typical “party and party” basis rather than on the harsher “legal practitioner and client” basis sought by Ms Hand’s lawyers.

The judge made no order on costs in relation to Ms Hand’s claim against Mr McGregor’s friend James Lawrence, who claimed to have had consensual sex with Ms Hand on the same night — though she said she had no memory of this happening.

The jury found that Mr Lawrence did not rape Ms Hand, which Mr Justice Owens yesterday said indicated the jury did not believe that Mr Lawrence had sex with her at all.

Ms Hand was awarded over €248,000 in damages nearly two weeks ago after a jury found that she had been raped by Mr McGregor in the Beacon Hotel in Dublin on 9 December 2018.

She was represented in the case by Coleman Legal and counsel John Gordon SC, Ray Boland SC and Siún Leonowicz BL.

In a statement yesterday, Dublin Rape Crisis Centre welcomed the court’s decision to award costs in favour of Ms Hand.

Rachel Morrogh, chief executive of DRCC, said: “This decision will reinforce the public’s belief that justice has been done in this case. Although for Nikita Hand, this case was always about the verdict, it was also important that both symbolically and financially, justice didn’t give with one hand and take away with the other.

“The costs awarded this afternoon underscore the significant consequences arising from Nikita Hand’s courage and her brave legal action.

“We in Dublin Rape Crisis Centre are so pleased for Nikita Hand and we thank her for holding the torch of justice high since 2018, despite efforts to extinguish it. We wish her continued healing and health as she rebuilds her life with her family.

“We also thank her for her bravery in highlighting the issues that face victims and survivors of sexual violence.

“We hope that blaming, shaming and discrediting victims will become something of the past and that this trial marks a turning point where survivors can hope for a better experience through the court process.”