Men who did not commit crimes against women had an obligation in the community to say that these crimes must stop, a leading senior counsel said yesterday.
Mr James Nugent SC said he was greatly encouraged to see the number of men at the Victims of Crime conference in Dublin.
"It is a poor sort of a man who commits a crime against a woman, and it is a poorer sort of man who allows women alone to say to the community that it has to stop. Men who do not commit crimes have an obligation to say that the crimes against women must stop," he said.
One member of the audience asked for views on the need for separate legal representation in court cases for alleged sexual assault and rape victims.
Mr Nugent said he had no principled objection to this provided the representation did not interfere with the right of the accused person to have a fair trial.
Mr Justice Michael Moriarty, however, said he thought there could be potential mechanical difficulties in having three legal teams at an emotive trial.
There were usually two barristers, senior and junior, representing the prosecution and maybe the juniors in the case could, as part of their brief, act for the victim. Otherwise, there would be two teams effectively trying to "catch the accused".
"I would rather see the prosecution much more encompassing the interests of the victim rather than a separate team," he said.
On prostitution, Mr Nugent said prostitutes themselves were victims. He did not think the law was a sufficient deterrent for users. It was not an offence to avail of the services of a prostitute and he saw a distortion there.
Mr Justice Moriarty recalled a case a few years ago concerning a massage parlour.
He said the girls had to give their names and identify themselves where the clients did not, and were referred to as Mr A, B or C.
At another session Mr John McCoy, a barrister, asked about the situation where a defendant in a rape case sacked his legal team and took the case himself and the injured party was subjected to cross-examination by him.
Replying, Prof Marc Groenhuijsen, professor of criminal law and procedure at Tilberg University in the Netherlands, said he would argue for more powers for judges to prohibit questions that were harmful to the interests of the victim.