Would you like to use your professional experience and expertise to assist a charity which is supporting and empowering victims of crime? If so, Victim Support at Court is currently seeking new Directors to join its board.

The Organisation
Victim Support at Court (V-SAC) was established in 2005 and is the only recognised specialist voluntary service in Ireland dedicated solely to court accompaniment for victims of crime, their families, and prosecution witnesses. We are at the forefront of delivering a high-quality court accompaniment service within the Irish Judicial System and are currently piloting our second expansion project which will help V-SAC towards becoming a national service.

V-SAC welcomes expressions of interest from potential directors with expertise or high level experience of the following skills – click on each title for full details of the individual roles

• Communications (Media and Public Relations/Affairs)
• Human Resource Management
• Financial Management (qualified accountant)

V-SAC is committed to the principles of diversity, inclusion and equality of opportunity. We welcome submissions from appropriately qualified candidates from all backgrounds. In line with current legislation, V-SAC directors are unpaid but vouched out-of- pocket expenses will be re-imbursed.

Board composition as per the Constitution is no more than nine Directors. The Board currently has six Directors namely:

• James Doorley – Chair
• Dwayne Keogh – Company Secretary
• Ian Fleming
• Ross Moore
• Gary Rutledge
• Ian Marder

As a Board Member, the role of the Non-Executive Director includes:

• Continuing the commitment by V-SAC to good governance, inclusion and to maintaining the highest of ethical standards
• Attendance at monthly board meetings and other organisational events
• Monitoring the performance of V-SAC especially against its strategic priorities and the annual work plan agreed by the Board
• Leading on specific tasks or strategic objectives as delegated by the Board
• Development of policy in relation to the above areas or others, as required
• Willingness to serve on ad hoc subcommittees as required

 

Board Meetings

At present, the board meets monthly. Every third board meeting is held in person in a Dublin City location. The other board meetings are held online and take place in the evening, usually from 6pm-7.30pm.

If you would like to have an informal discussion about the role, please contact James Doorley via email to chair@vsac.ie .

Interested candidates should apply by sending a CV (2-pages) and Cover Letter (1-page) to chair@vsac.ie no later than 12pm on Friday 15^th September.

RTÉ reporter, Evelyn O’Rourke, interviewed staff and volunteers from Victim Support at Court (V-SAC)  who explained the practical and emotional support they give to victims when they are due to attend court. Click here to listen to the feature on V-SAC (starting at 1:08:56).

It really highlights the support available to victims of all types of crime, if they want it, and support for the family/friends and witnesses when they come to court.

The feature included an introduction by V-SAC’s General Manager, Dympna Kenny, V-SAC Coordinators – Sara Murphy and Emily Healy – and one of its volunteers – Kevin.

If you would like to volunteer click the Volunteer button on our website to find out more about the role of a court accompaniment volunteer.

V-SAC’s website is a fantastic tool for sharing our project news, and what better way to do this than by joining in our INSPIRING COVIS MONDAYS. Despite our global beliefs, the concept of miserable Mondays should be ditched!

Together with COVIS project partners, we’ve compiled a fascinating editorial to share with you every Monday, during upcoming months. There are so many good vibes to choose from, they’re bound to put a smile on your face no matter what day of the week it is.
Visit the project web-page for more information:
https://lnkd.in/ezap6ecF

@brottsofferjourensverige @victim_support_at_court @apav_online @rikosuhripaivystys @offerraadgivning_hovedstaden
#COVISMONDAYS #SafeJustice #EUVictimsRights #ShapingVictimSupportTogether #VictimSupportEU #Project

On Thursday 30 March 2023,  Chief Justice Donal O’Donnell was in attendance for the launch of new easy-to-understand information on courts.ie.

To better understand the different elements of Family Law, people can now access Family Law information developed using plain language and displayed in an accessible and user-friendly way. This information in easy-to-understand language, gives people the wording to discuss legal processes, applications and resolution options with legal practitioners and professionals, as well as our staff in the Courts Service.

Click Family Law (courts.ie) for more information.

To prepare users before attending the Court, the new 360 Virtual Tours were also launched, and they allow people to experience the look and feel of the Courts in advance. This can reduce anxiety for many Court visitors. The 360 Virtual Tours demonstrate what to expect both outside and inside the building. So, by the time a person arrives in Court they are better prepared to engage in the process. We developed the 360 Virtual Tours as a direct response to user feedback and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform’s Public Service Innovation Fund 2022 funded their development.

Click Virtual Tours (courts.ie) for more information.

Congratulations to Evelyn Bracken, V-SAC Volunteer, who was shortlisted for a Volunteer Ireland Award in the Social Inclusion and Community Support category.

Evelyn volunteers in the Criminal Courts of Justice, Parkgate St, Dublin and provides practical and emotional support to victims of all types of crime, their family/friends and prosecution witnesses when they come to court. No matter what the crime, Evelyn treats all victims with respect and is there for them if they have any questions. She deals compassionately with anyone she supports. She continued to volunteer during the COVID-19 restrictions, even when the courts were operating at a reduced capacity. She gets on well with her fellow volunteers and V-SAC staff. She is always willing to help out in anything to do with V-SAC. She is such an asset to V-SAC and has given almost 300 days to volunteering since she joined V-SAC in 2017. The victims really appreciate having Evelyn with them every step during their time at court. Evelyn deserves the recognition for the fantastic work she has given victims and giving so much of her own time to help others.

Well done to all the awardees of Volunteer Ireland Awards. While Evelyn was not an awardee, her contribution to V-SAC in supporting victims of crime was recognised at the Volunteer Ireland Awards ceremony on Friday 2nd December 2022. Well done, Evelyn!

 

V-SAC provided support 3,720 times to 1,271 people across the different criminal courts in Ireland. Our free and confidential court accompaniment service is provided by our fully trained volunteers who gave up a total of 641 days of their time in 2021 to help victims of all types of crime when they attended court.

	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	Total
People supported	1,271	1,096	1,482	1,365	1,257	6,471
Individual contact meetings	3,720	3,248	5,435	5,427	5,352	23,182
No of active volunteers	36	46	69	46	34	60-80
No of days given by volunteers	641	662	1,417	1,202	946	4,868

Our service is available to anyone who has been a victim and/or witness of crime and is due to attend court for criminal proceedings. V-SAC does not discriminate on gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, race, membership of the Traveller community and people in receipt of housing assistance. We also support children and vulnerable adults who are victims of, or witnesses, to crime.

To book in with with V-SAC for support contact 01-872-6785 or email info@vsac.ie.