It is estimated that around forty percent of Irish people will become victims of sexual violence at some point in their lives and may suffer adverse psychosocial impacts as a result, including to their mental health, educational attainment, family life, financial wellbeing and employment prospects. Many victims of sexual violence experience further harm during the criminal justice process due to a lack of effective communication and information sharing, limited opportunities for meaningful participation and discourteous treatment by criminal justice professionals. Delays in case processing can also engender a wide array of harms for complainants and accused persons, and impede the effective administration of justice. International evidence suggests that a range of factors can contribute to delays at each stage of the criminal justice process, including case characteristics, organisational cultures and practices, the skills and practices of criminal justice professionals, and system structures and processes. Accordingly, a comprehensive and whole-system approach is needed to understand and address delays in the processing of sexual offences. In Ireland, there is growing recognition of the need for a better understanding of the nature of, and reasons underpinning, delays in the processing of sexual violence cases.

The current research, which was conducted against a backdrop of significant legislative and policy change, aims to contribute to knowledge in this area by providing up-to-date and empirically based insights into professional stakeholders’ views on the reasons for delays and possible solutions. Specifically the aims of the study are to:
1. Identify stakeholder views on any issues/problems that lead to delay in the processing and progression of sexual offences through the Irish criminal justice system
2. Explore how these issues should be dealt with and how this might be achieved, elaborating on what has happened in Ireland thus far and what needs to be done.
3. Detail the views of stakeholders as to the potential of interventions from other jurisdictions that might be adopted in Ireland to address the delays in the processing of sexual offences. 
4. Explore with stakeholders the feasibility ‐ facilitators and inhibitors ‐ of introducing specific interventions in Ireland (legislative, practice-related and otherwise). 

P.63 In the view of some judges, the Gardaí need to ask some basic questions of a complainant during an investigation, such as if the complainant is receiving counselling, if they have been in the care of any state agency, and if they have had any mental health issues or drug addictions. Judges reported that it is important that the Gardaí and state agencies understand the relevance of disclosure from the outset, as disclosure could be relevant to the case conduct of the defence at some point in the future. Complainants need to be informed carefully and kindly that this is relevant. However, judges emphasised that care must be taken that this is not construed as putting a complainant off making a complaint...