Ms Caroline Counihan:

The report, Rape & Justice in Ireland, was published in 2009. In my dream universe, we would be doing a follow-up report on it now because the world has changed an awful lot. The Deputy asked whether we are happy with the way statistics are compiled in this country. It is quite disparate. There are the Garda recorded crime figures, in another box on another website altogether are the DPP's figures and in a third box are the Courts Service figures.

I would love to see, in the DPP's annual report, a breakdown of the reasons sexual offences, in particular, might not be prosecuted. I would also love to know the proportion of sexual offences, or files concerning sexual offences, that result in a prosecution for any offence. At the time of publication of Rape & Justice in Ireland, the DPP very kindly allowed the researchers to enlist the assistance of DPP staff. In fact, DPP staff filled out questionnaires, not from a sample but from the entire number of files for a given four-year period, and compiled statistics from that. I went back to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions about a year ago to ask if it was possible to determine the proportion of sexual offence files from An Garda Síochána which result in a prosecution and also to break down the reasons they might not be prosecuted. It explained that it was not possible to do this exercise digitally and it could really only be done manually. As I understood it, the office did not have the resources to do it. If possible, I would love to know what the proportion is because then I could give more meaningful advice to people who ask what the chances are that a file will even get as far as the DPP, never mind any further.

Having said all that, while the Director of Public Prosecutions does live up to a fairly stringent test, she has also pushed the boundaries of it and has been more liberal in recent times. Survivors have benefited from that. I am not talking about a huge effect but that is my anecdotal impression. I do not have statistics on it. It is very hard in our statistics system to track a case, complaint or victim from the beginning right through the process. In a given year, one is not talking about the same cases. An Garda Síochána has a bundle of recorded cases or complaints that are separate from, and probably do not much overlap with, what has got as far as the DPP in a given year and what is with the DPP is not necessarily what reaches the Courts Service. One is always comparing apples with pears and cauliflowers. It is not a unitary system. I do not know enough about statistics to know if a system could be devised that has a single identifying number for every case, charge, victim or perpetrator. To answer the Deputy's question, it is not very satisfactory.

I am always finding things that are not obvious but should be. For example, although it has improved in recent times, the Central Statistics Office, CSO, categories of recorded crime include a huge category of "other sexual offences" which lumps various offences together. One can find out the breakdown for a particular offence but it is necessary to ask the CSO. I am sure it is a question of resources, not ability, but it is cumbersome and not easy to work with.