Mr. Mark Toland:

They have some excellent detectives, and I have met and engaged with many people who have got very high skills. What I do not like is the way they approach an investigation. If there is a murder today in Tipperary, as a division, Tipperary will manage that murder investigation. The local superintendent takes charges. They have to call in people from some of the national units around the division. That is not an approach we would recommend. In all the other jurisdictions we visited they would have a national unit that investigates very serious crimes like homicide.

They would come in to investigate the crime and allow the division to deal with less serious crimes, such burglary and robbery, and some of the sexual assaults. They have the skills; they are merely not in the right place.

The sexual assault piece is interesting. There is a need to develop a specific training course for the investigation of sexual assaults, particularly child sexual abuse.