Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Taoiseach. This has been a very disturbing period in the administration of justice. Public confidence has been fundamentally undermined by the Government’s incompetence in overseeing all of these episodes. With regard to the administration of justice, the allegations in respect of the Office of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, being bugged were very serious. Unfortunately, however, on the day after the matter was reported in The Sunday Timesthe Taoiseach misquoted the Garda Síochána Act 2005 and said GSOC had a requirement to report to the Minister. Straightaway the tone was set and in the language used, the victims were turned into the villains.
The Taoiseach robustly refused media calls for an independent inquiry and the matter dragged on for another week. Finally, he opted not for an inquiry but for a review by Mr. Justice John Cooke who will report soon. In particular, he did not opt for a commission of investigation into something fundamental to our democracy. When it came to the dossier handed to him by the leader of Fianna Fáil which contained the very serious legacy allegations from the Garda whistleblower, Sergeant Maurice McCabe, the Taoiseach again opted for a review, not an inquiry, this time by Mr. Sean Guerin, senior counsel. This review is also ongoing.
When it came to the matter of the tape recordings, however, the Taoiseach went immediately for a commission of investigation. There are suspicions that this is an attempt at distraction from the core issue, another emerging scandal, one of the biggest in the history of the State, the Ian Bailey affair. Very soon investigating officers from the French authorities will come to the State to investigate witnesses. This is outrageous interference in the criminal justice system that the Taoiseach is tolerating, even though he knows that the basis of the case and for external investigating officers in coming to our jurisdiction is flimsy at best. This is based on Garda files that are fundamentally flawed, as proved by the report from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in 2001, of which the State has been aware for all these years. That was the basis on which the Supreme Court refused to extradite Ian Bailey. We have all that information, yet the Government is allowing the French authorities to come here and carry on. It is a fiasco.
This involves allegations of Garda behaviour very similar to those that emerged during the Morris tribunal, but it is worse because the State apparatus has stood over this for far too long. The various Ministers responsible for the justice portfolio, Attorneys General and the Department of Justice and Equality have stood over it throughout the years. While the incorporation of the Ian Bailey tape recordings from Bandon Garda station into the commission’s terms of reference is welcome, we need a dedicated commission of investigation into the affair.

There are serious questions for the Minister for Justice and Equality to answer in respect of this affair. He has known this since early 2012, following the Supreme Court decision and his Department handing over the 44-page critique from the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, of the initial Garda investigation. The critique apparently rips the entire investigation to shreds. The Minister has known about the issue for a number of years but stood back and let it continue. His Department and the Government are defending a civil case taken by Mr. Ian Bailey and his partner, Ms Jules Thomas, as we speak.

The 44-page critique by the DPP given to Mr. Bailey's legal team and the Supreme Court, and which formed the basis of the court's decision to refuse to extradite Mr. Bailey, only came into the hands of his legal team because a previous Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr. Eamonn Barnes, realised there was a basis for a serious miscarriage of justice. He knew from 2001 about this ridiculous and appallingly flawed investigation, with all the emerging issues around witnesses being coaxed and cajoled into giving evidence. That was known about at the highest levels of administration of justice in the State, and it continues today.

The Taoiseach must intervene in this case by asking the Minister what he did through 2012. On three occasions in 2012, Mr. Bailey's legal team wrote to the Minister about the failure of the Garda to co-operate with the investigation by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC. The Minister refused to intervene and ensure the documentation required by GSOC was given to the ombudsman, yet he intervened in the following year when GSOC made public its absolute bewilderment and frustration about the failure of the Garda to co-operate in the Kieran Boylan affair. He could have intervened in the Bailey case when the three letters were sent to him but he refused to do so. He also refused to intervene in sorting out the issue of Garda co-operation with GSOC and the implications of the Supreme Court case. He indicated he would consult the Attorney General but nothing happened. That is the real scandal. Tá tuilleadh le rá agam ach tá mo chuid ama caite. Tá súil agam go dtabharfaidh an Taoiseach aghaidh ar na ceisteanna atá ardaithe agam.