Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have that report and we circulated it to members before the start of the meeting. I might take 30 seconds to make one observation because it flows from what Ms Counihan said about trauma. One in Four covered it particularly well in the description in its submission of what somebody is going through physically as he or she tries to describe a traumatic event. One cannot understand trauma until one really understands it. It is simply impossible for people who do not understand it to be able to treat it with the sensitivity it needs.

Senator Ward referred to the training of barristers. My view is that it is essential that they be trained and not on a voluntary basis. The State is putting people through a process that it has organised and it has a measure of duty of care to those individuals. Can members possibly imagine the most horrific thing that has happened to them? It is the most horrific thing that has happened to victims and it is difficult enough to relive that experience with a therapist in a safe environment. It is so difficult and traumatic to be asked to relive the experience in front of a roomful of strangers, including the person who has committed the act, and to be expected to give one's best account of the experience, the one that really matters, the one that one was working towards and that one will always remember, that the State must take steps to make sure that people are facilitated and, more importantly, protected. Following that observation, I will move on to Senator Gallagher. He has five minutes.