Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Commissioner and deputy commissioners to this important meeting. I avail of this opportunity to call on the Commissioner and his colleagues in An Garda Síochána to acquire, train and maintain cadaver dogs to assist in locating human remains and to form part of the Garda dog unit. We had two recent cases, one in my county, that of Michael Gaine. I attended Mike's funeral on Saturday. Part of his remains were found in a slurry tank. We also had the Tina Satchwell murder in Cork whose remains were found in her home in Youghal under the stairs after six years. Surely, we have to learn from the mistakes of the past. I am aware that the usefulness of these dogs is approximately three years and that they come with a cost. However, there are massive gains to be made. I have no doubt that if we had the use of such dogs those murders and many others would have been resolved some time ago.

The prolonged pain, suffering and grieving by relatives and friends, and the entire community in the case in Kenmare that I am familiar with, would have been significantly eased with the introduction or the availability of these dogs. That is a no-brainer. The longer these inquiries and searches go on, the more malicious the rumours that circulate in the community are without any consideration being given to the immediate family and close friends. This could also be eased and addressed in a small way with the introduction of these dogs.

In regard to Mike Gaine, we should have known from previous cases that there should have been a proper search of the slurry tanks. The importance of properly searching them has been highlighted. In this case, it seems that did not happen. Why is there a review going on at a time there is an active murder inquiry? Is that unusual? Has it happened previously? It is news to me.