Lorraine Clifford Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Commissioner and his team for coming before us. I want to talk about Majella Moynihan. My colleague, Deputy O'Callaghan, mentioned her case but I want to expand further on it. What happened to Ms Moynihan in 1984 exposed the distressing reality of what life was like for women in Ireland not long ago. It is heartening to hear that the Commissioner feels that it would not happen within his organisation now. I know that he and the Minister for Justice and Equality have met Majella Moynihan. There are outstanding issues which I would like to discuss. I come from a Garda family and I have the height of respect for the Garda and the important work its members do. I was sick to the pit of my stomach when I listened to Ms Moynihan's interview on radio. It was distressing. Ms Moynihan was a vulnerable young woman. She grew up in care. It was heartbreaking to listen to her talk about being accepted into Templemore and how it was the start of a bright new future for her.

She felt liberated from her upbringing, having lost her mother at a very young age. Instead of having a bright future, she experienced the most horrible abuse. She was interrogated and faced dismissal for having a baby outside marriage. She was forced to give that baby up and she regrets that deeply. She was treated like a scarlet woman by her colleagues when she returned to work after having given up a very much wanted baby. Ms Moynihan was told by an assistant Garda commissioner in 1989 that her career would go nowhere because of her history. Very distressingly, she attempted suicide on five occasions and had to retire from An Garda Síochána on grounds of ill health. There are still some serious questions outstanding. I would like to ask Mr. Harris some of them. Ms Moynihan was given a redacted version of her personnel file in 2017 and she was told that the unredacted version was either lost or destroyed. Was that file destroyed or is it lost?