Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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A group came before the committee in one of the earlier sessions, although it may have been a private briefing I had in the lead-up to that. In any case, I was talking to somebody who is involved in training the Judiciary in England, where there is ongoing training. One of the scenarios that was put to a number of judges was a domestic violence scenario, and it was amazing how different the judges' interpretation of the evidence put forward was to that in the victim impact statements. There was no cohesion or unity in terms of the sentencing of the offender. In some cases, the judges took into account the victim impact statements and in other cases, they were not taken into account as much.

That is where the training needs to come in. It should not matter what courthouse one goes into. If the same evidence is presented in Dublin, Cork or Limerick, the same process should be available for victims and the same information should be given. I believe the members of the Judiciary are not aware and some of them are there way too long, to be honest.