Mr. Hugh Hume:

Our case workers. When a member of the public contacts GSOC, he or she invariably interacts with our case work team. There are 35 members of staff who deal with a broad range of demands and people suffering trauma and hardship who come to us for assistance. They are an excellent bunch. The commission met with them the other day. They are a very engaged and caring bunch. They received all these 2,189 complaints. Last year, they decided that 1,332 were active complaints. The first thing they look at is whether it is a crime. Is there evidence of a crime? Has a member of the public said a Garda hit him or her? Has he or said that a Garda has stolen money from him or her? Is there a crime in the allegation? They send that to our senior management team composed of our deputy director and director. They then look at that and if they agree, they designate it for criminal investigation. The first thing that is considered is whether it is a crime.