Ms Helena Kiely:

I was involved in establishing the unit in July 2015. We did a lot of training with superintendents throughout the country. We did a number of sessions in Templemore so gardaí were aware of their obligations. We do ongoing training with State solicitors throughout the country. This year we will do four sessions with prosecution counsels and State solicitors to examine certain aspects.

In the court system, there are reasons and reviews but we have rights with regard to the assessment of victims and their vulnerability. A lot of the training we will do this year will be on ensuring vulnerable victims are assessed at an appropriate time and supports for giving evidence are put in place in the courts. They may have learning or speech difficulties or other difficulties. We have done an element of training with State solicitors. At a conference 18 months ago, a speech and language therapist spoke to the prosecutors in our office and to State solicitors about language difficulties. Last week, at a State solicitors' conference, a talk was given to all of our prosecutors on how to assess victims.

There is ongoing training in conjunction with the Garda protective services tasked with dealing with vulnerable clients throughout the country, in particular victims of sexual and domestic violence. We do quite a bit of work with them. They are establishing specialist units throughout Ireland to improve-----