It was highly likely that the young men involved in the school shootings in Denver in the US came from violent homes, according to a US-based expert on domestic violence.
Ms Rai Cunningham, director of Victims Services in Quincy, Boston, told The Irish Times that in the US nine out of 10 juvenile delinquents were from violent homes. In visits to prisons she had found that one of the first thing prisoners talked about was how their mothers were beaten by their fathers.
"It's learned behaviour," she said. "Once they are adults, often it's too late to change their behaviour. Our efforts with intervention with violent men are not very successful.
"One of our biggest tasks now is with child welfare. In seven out of 10 cases if you can get the women into counselling and away from the abuser, it is the best thing for the children.
"My message is that Ireland still has a chance on this before the drugs get hold." She said the problem of domestic violence was greatly exacerbated by drugs, especially cocaine and "designer drugs", which made people more violent.
Chief Supt Catherine Clancy told the conference that extensive core training programmes on violence were now conducted at Garda in-service schools and the Garda College. It was intended that the Garda information technology initiative would enable the Garda to identify more easily, at the time of response, cases of repeat victimisation.
The Garda favoured a multi-agency approach to this problem, and consideration would be given to the report's proposal for a pilot project.
Judge Peter Smithwick, President of the District Court, said that applications for barring orders were brought for a range of reasons, from serious physical injury to women seeking to bring to a head disagreements about excessive drinking.
Asked about the figures, which showed few custodial sentences for domestic violence, he said that the likelihood of re-offending always had to be taken into account.