There is now a heightened awareness within our society, and one which I welcome, that violence within the home is unacceptable. The area of domestic violence is a complicated and sensitive one and the Garda are strongly committed to ensuring that this problem is dealt with as effectively and efficiently as possible.
The Garda Síochána are fully aware of the stress and humiliation suffered by victims of domestic violence, and when dealing with such cases they take a sensitive and sympathetic approach. All new entrants to the Force undergo special training in order to enable them to deal sympathetically and effectively with such incidents; in-service training programmes on the subject are also provided for existing gardaí and all Garda training programmes on the topic are updated and improved as necessary in order to provide the gardaí with the necessary skills to deal with such situations.
In addition, a conference on the subject of Safety for Women is to be held in the Garda Training College, Templemore in July which will focus on practical issues — the Garda response to domestic violence, call outs, procedures for handling sexual assault investigations, victim support and legislative developments. This conference follows on from two previous important initiatives, the first was a joint research project carried out by St. Patrick's Training College, Drumcondra and the Garda College into the problem of domestic violence and the second a conference held in October last on Safety for Women which was hosted by my predecessor. These conferences have generated a great deal of debate and interest which is a reflection of the increased awareness within our society of the problems associated with domestic violence. The holding of such conferences is an extremely important development allowing as they do an exchange of views and information and helping to establish closer links between all organisations and individuals involved in this area. Developments such as this will, I am sure, lead to an even more effective response to the issue of domestic violence.