Ms Noeline Blackwell:

When one is looking at the Courts Service statistics, which are by no means perfect - as admitted by the Courts Service itself - one is looking at cases which start in one year and finish in another, and one cannot see the trail from the first report to the final conviction. It is very hard to tell. I believe the conviction rate is significantly higher once the accused persons are indicted, but it is really hard to tell. There are only around 100 convictions for rape in any year, which is a tiny number. Some 2,500 sexual offences were reported to the Garda in 2016. That is the highest number ever. From that it dribbles away to perhaps 100 at the end of the process. The process can take four or five years.