Ms Nóirín O'Sullivan:

This is a very important area. I referred to cultural renewal earlier in the context of our overall programme. It is about making sure that there is a victim orientation and an acceptance of the reality of victims of domestic violence, which can be one of the most insidious types of crime because it often happens behind closed doors. In the context of our new training programmes we are making sure that there is a cultural awareness of what domestic violence means in terms of the victims of crime. We are working very closely with victim support groups and the various agencies and NGOs that are working in that particular area.

In terms of the our state of readiness in the context of the implementation of the victim's directive and the Istanbul Convention, we are ensuring that we have a centralised focus on this area in terms of policy implementation and overseeing that implementation throughout the organisation. In the initial stages, we set up a new division known as the protected services bureau. That bureau is based in Harcourt Square and is headed by a detective chief superintendent who works along with three detective superintendents and a number of other staff. The bureau is responsible for dealing with the most vulnerable victims and for making sure that we implement the Istanbul Convention in a practical sense, through, for example, a risk assessment tool around domestic violence. That work is under way. In the future, in terms of our overall programme, we envisage that as the need arises, this will be rolled out on a regional basis. We want to make sure that the service is provided as close to local areas as possible and as responsively as possible.