Ms Niamh Ní Charra:

The biggest question was on trust. I welcome what Ms Ní Chonaráin, Mr. Ó Maoldomhnaigh and Ms Bartley mentioned about Comhaltas. Comhaltas is just one of the organisations. The disclosures coming into us would contradict the feedback that Comhaltas is getting. I am not at all saying that things are being misrepresented. What I am saying essentially is that the mechanisms for seeing if there are issues are flawed. I want to pick up on one or two of those.

The vetting of more than 9,000 teachers and members of Comhaltas is important work and it is great to hear that is being done, but it is important to realise the reports that would come back to Comhaltas would only show somebody who had been convicted. We know the percentage of people who report assaults is minuscule, that the percentage of those against whom there is enough evidence to go to court is minuscule, and that the number of those who are convicted is minuscule again. Unfortunately, the vetting will not give the information required. It does not give a true picture.

The designated liaison person, DLP, is a fantastic system and kudos to Tomás who set this up. It is an incredibly important structure, but again it does not go far enough because the major problem is, as Dr. Casey mentioned, when things happen to people, they are traumatised and they do not know who to report to. DLP is quite Civil Service speak. I went on the Comhaltas website this morning and I could not find any mention anywhere that that system is in place. It would be a very easy, practical thing to put up the excellent report that Ms Ní Chonaráin read out about the future policies, the mission and ethos. These are all brilliant things to hear and we welcome them but they should be very clear and easy to find on the website. DLP contacts should be easy to find on the website, with explanations of why they are there and what they can do for people. That should be easy to find. At the moment it is not. There is a gap between what is happening on the ground and the information that Comhaltas is receiving. Comhaltas is in the room today, which is why I bring this up, but it goes for all organisations.