DPP: Dedicated sex offence unit will benefit victims

Sexual offences in Ireland are set to be investigated from start to finish by a dedicated unit within the public prosecutions service, it has emerged.

A new Specialised Sexual Offences Unit is to be established by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) next year with a view to “improving the experience” of victims caught up in the judicial process.

Director Claire Loftus, in introducing her organisation’s annual report, said that, at present, sexual offences are handled by different units within her office at the various stages of a prosecution process.

“This is very efficient , but it does mean a lack of continuity in handling very sensitive and complex cases,” said Ms Loftus.

The new unit is to be established next year, with a view to becoming operational some time in 2021, with full funding from the Government.

Ms Loftus said the new unit would, by necessity, be “more resource-intensive” than the systems currently in place, and would require the establishment of 10 additional staff within the agency, seven of them in legal roles, a 5% increase on current staffing levels.

All sexual offences prosecuted within the Central Criminal Court and the Dublin Circuit Court will be managed “from beginning to end” within this unit, she said.

The unit will also make prosecutorial decisions on all sexual offence cases occurring outside of Dublin, and “will take the lead in setting policy for all aspects of the handling of these cases”, with particular emphasis to be placed on the experience of victims throughout the process.

Particular care will be afforded to the trauma experienced by staff by transference from the distressing cases they may deal with. Such levels are currently quite low within the DPP, Ms Loftus said.

Meanwhile, the number of files on cases submitted for prosecution in Ireland jumped by 9% to just under 15,000 in 2018.