Ms Emily Logan:

I will pick up here, if I may. Mr. Whelan can jump in if he has anything to add. The Deputy's concern is the length of time. I will come back on that and give some assurance. One of the issues was our dependency as an organisation on the specialist skills of the gardaí in the protective services bureau to interview children who are witnesses or victims of crime. As Mr. Whelan mentioned earlier, we are in the process of running a significant training programme, one aspect of which involves a group of eight people who have a particular interest in or aptitude for working with children and young people under the age of 18. They have been trained and recently obtained their certificates. We are trying to reduce our dependency. The Deputy commented last time on the concern of children and families coming into GSOC when they have made a complaint against a garda and the person they meet is a garda. We are doing our level best to maximise our independence in that area and demonstrate to children and families that when they make a complaint to GSOC, they will be met by a GSOC investigator who has the specialist skills to interview them.