Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left) | Oireachtas source

The information that the RCNI has developed over the past 40 years was very comprehensive. It is not necessary for every centre to be involved in supplying the information, although at one stage all 16 centres were involved. The type of information they gathered did not need full representation. It was not designed as an operational administrative tool but can easily deliver that small area of data. It is not representative of the population as the service users are self-selecting and rape crisis centres are ad hoc. Therefore, full participation by all centres, while desirable, is not critical to the validity of the data. RCNI data have provided ground-breaking research findings which have been used to inform responses to different types of survivors and to form prevention strategies.

I challenge the Minister's statement that "Tusla did not always have timely access to the data collected". According to the RCNI, over two years only one deadline was missed by three days due to illness. In every other instance, Tusla received timely information.

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