Ms Dympna Kenny:

On Deputy Costello's question on how Covid affected victims and on what we have learned from that, the courts were less busy over the Covid period. When there are fewer people around, victims are less anxious. Particularly in the District Court, only people involved in the cases were allowed in. This alleviated some of the stress for victims coming into court.

Remote participation, whereby the victim did not have to travel to court, or where the defendant was brought in through video link such that he or she was not physically in the same room as the victim, worked in favour of the victim. Staggering the court lists has really worked. Prior to Covid, a victim could have gone in at 10 a.m. for the 10.30 a.m. list but might not have been heard until after lunch. Now the victims are brought in only at certain times, be it 11.30 a.m., 12 noon or even after lunch. This means less waiting for them, which helps with their anxiety levels.

During Covid, we provided telephone support when the courts were physically closed. We also provided video support whereby we talked to the victims, as we are doing now. We have learned from that. With the permission the Courts Service, part of our service is to provide a pre-trial visit whereby we show the victim an empty courtroom. We are able to do this by video link. That was for people who may have had to self-isolate and could not travel. It meant they were getting to see the inside of the courtroom. I was glad to hear from Ms Angela Denning of the Courts Service about having the 360° video view of the courts. We engaged with the Courts Service to suggest this so that victims, no matter what court they were to attend, would be able to go online and see its interior. That will help.