Ms Caroline Counihan:

The role of supporter in preparing victim impact statements or, depending on the level of need, drafting them substantially, often falls to rape crisis people who have been supporting the victim. They are trained to do that with the support of the commission and of victims of crime. We have made some supportive material available for workers and victims. If a victim has a very good relationship with the investigating garda in his or her case, that garda might take on the role of preparing the victim statement, or at least providing a little assistance. It depends. As time goes by, I am noticing in my job that more and more victims seem to be undertaking to do it themselves substantially. We tell them that they really need to crosscheck it to make sure it is all right to go forward. As the members of the committee will be aware, there are certain matters that should not be raised in a victim impact statement for legal reasons, etc. Our philosophy is that it should be left to the victim. I am relaying to the committee the concerns of people in our network, who have said with the greatest of respect to the Probation Service that it is indelibly identified with the accused in the minds of victims. The service often supervises accused persons and prepares reports on them. It is identified by victims as a service for "them" rather than for "us". It is a purely practical point.