Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)

It is now more than eight years since Dean Lyons was charged with the Grangegorman murders and more than five years since the security correspondent of The Irish Times, Jim Cusack, first published a series of articles carefully documenting the case of Dean Lyons. Since then, this case has been persistently raised in the House with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, and his predecessor, Deputy O'Donoghue. On many occasions, it was argued the case demanded an inquiry, yet both Ministers persistently refused to listen. Responses were far removed from the Minister's statement this morning that: "Self evidently ... certain aspects of the Dean Lyons case ... have profound implications for the operation of our criminal justice system." If that is case, what was the criminal justice system doing for the last five years?

For five years, it was as if Ministers wished the case would go away, be swept under a carpet and forgotten about. After all, Dean Lyons was an impoverished, homeless, heroin addict. Who cared about his good name? Who cared about his parents who were traumatised by the charges made against their son? In the past, I argued in the House that it was an appalling indictment of the system that had Dean Lyons come from an affluent background, there is little doubt there would have been an independent inquiry into his case a long time ago.

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