Intermediary Studies Diploma with the School of Allied Health

On Monday, 22 April 2024, Dr. Alan Cusack was interviewed on the Claire Byrne Show on RTE Radio 1. Dr. Miriam Delahunt BL also contributed to the interview which focused on the topic of the treatment of vulnerable witnesses in the Irish criminal justice system.

During the interview, Dr. Cusack provided an overview of the University of Limerick’s pioneering new inter-faculty programme, the Professional Diploma in Intermediary Studies, which is delivered jointly by experts the School of Law and School of Allied Health.   In representing Ireland’s first training and accreditation programme for Registered Intermediaries, this state-of-the-art interfaculty programme addresses a key recommendation raised in the O’Malley Report (2020) and it is a foundational aspect of the Irish government’s vision to create a more accessible criminal justice system pursuant to its Supporting A Victim’s Journey (2020) strategy. 

The diploma promises to embed the University of Limerick at the forefront of national policy innovation in the direction of securing equal access to justice for vulnerable persons pursuant to UNSDG16, UNCRPD and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Dr. Cusack also spoke about the role that intermediaries will be expected to play in the criminal process and provided an analysis of the success of similar special measures internationally.

 A podcast of the interview is available here.