Ms Maria McDonald:

As I have indicated on the issue, it has been 23 years but intermediaries have only been used once. I spoke to a senior prosecutor about this. The issue is not that the legislation is not there but that they cannot really use it because they do not have guidelines for their use. Therefore the judge really does not understand what intermediaries are and the prosecutors do not understand when they should be used. There is a real fear around them breaching the rights of the accused person when they are used.

I have been informed of a way by which that could be prevented. I did not get permission to say who it was, so I do not want to name anyone. In effect, it is important that the legislation clearly outlines when intermediaries can be used by a judge to ensure that the accused's rights are not going to be breached.