Mr. Ger Brophy:

We are working really hard on an EU model of service provision for children who have been sexually abused. This is called the Barnahus model. Under the EU-funded PROMISE 3 project, we are involved in training with our colleagues right across Europe in respect of specialist interviewing, therapy and follow-up. We aim to have a consistent service throughout the country. At the moment we only have one pilot site, which is in Galway.

With regard to what people experience at the moment, we aim to provide, through a patchwork of different counselling services, support and therapy for children who have been sexually abused. The Deputy may be familiar with some of the bigger services in Dublin. We also fund services provided by the CARI Foundation and a variety of other public and private services. We certainly would not claim that this is consistent. Our aim is to develop a consistent network of three Barnahus centres over the next three to five years and to link therapy and counselling with these centres.