Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The victim has the right to be accompanied by a legal aid solicitor in this type of case and that has been the practice in recent years. Every criminal trial is a prosecution instituted in the name of the people of Ireland against a particular accused person. Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, solicitors and necessary support staff represent the public interest in that context. I appreciate that there can be separate and distinct representation for the victim even though the DPP, in the public interest, has instituted proceedings against a particular accused. We have acknowledged that distinct right to the extent that there is the right to have a legal aid solicitor accompanying the victim of a crime of this type. That is the existing practice. To go above and beyond that would require a major consideration of the nature of a criminal trial in our system of the administration of justice.