Ms Caroline Counihan:

I refer back to my earlier answers. In my role in the past 11 years or so I have most commonly found that people want to receive advice prior to the point at which the Legal Aid Board provides assistance by way of legal advice, that is, before any prosecution is in being. A lot of our work takes place before victims report to An Garda Síochána and also when victims receive a decision from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions that it does not believe it is appropriate to prosecute. Victims have to decide what to do about it, but, as members know, it is time-limited. They have to make up their minds quickly. So much of what we are talking about is sexual assault which is not covered by the scheme. By far, that is the most relevant point. By a factor of three or four, the sexual offence reported most frequently is charged as sexual assault which the Legal Aid Board's limited scheme does not cover.