Ms Caroline Counihan:

There are seven SATUs in total. There is a national guidelines committee which includes representatives from all the rape crisis organisations, including ourselves and the DRCC. It is a fabulous committee and an example of inter-agency co-operation at its best. Over a period of close to ten years it has produced two sets of agreed guidelines. It takes its time in terms of working through whether proposals will work or not in practice and getting the views of representatives of the DPP's office, An Garda Síochána, the medical profession, SATU nurses and so on.

I have not heard of many complaints regarding the SATUs - perhaps one or two in the six years I have been in this job. As legal director, SATU services are not my direct responsibility across the network. Certainly, I have not heard of a problem.