DCU and Law Society Skillnet to partner for further round of SUPRALAT training

Dublin City University (DCU) and Law Society Skillnet are partnering to provide a further round of training to solicitors on how to advise clients detained in Garda custody.

Twelve practitioners will be trained in Dublin this December and next January, according to Dr Vicky Conway of the Socio-Legal Research Centre in DCU’s School of Law and Government.

Speaking to Irish Legal News, Dr Conway said the SUPRALAT programme of training has so far been “an enormous, enormous success” which has received “exceptional” feedback.

She added: “All of those who participated have been hugely complimentary. We’ve been in touch with a lot of them and we’ve heard a great deal about how SUPRALAT has changed how they behave when they attend police stations, and that they’re much more confident.

“I think it’s a really unusual space because, unlike a lot of areas of practice, they’re very much on their own - they never see how other colleagues do it, and there’s no judge in the room, there’s no arbiter.

“Given the exceptionally low figures of take-up - less than 7 per cent of detainees have a solicitor present in interview - it’s so important that we build confidence among solicitors so they feel they can do best by their client in that space.”

In the last round of training, a number of gardaí participating in role-playing as part of the training programme, which Dr Conway said she hoped could be repeated in the coming round of training.

Dr Conway said: “It was an absolute first and was really successful. It helped to create a very authentic situation so could practice the skills we develop.”

The training programme will be formally advertised in the next couple of weeks.