Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

All the circumstances known to me at this stage suggest there was no misbehaviour of any kind by the Garda Síochána in the Wheelock case. I express my sympathy, as I have done on a number of occasions, to the family of Terence Wheelock on the untimely death of their son. As soon as he was found in a collapsed condition in his cell in Store Street Garda Station, all the requisite steps were taken. An officer from outside the division was immediately appointed to investigate the incident. He visited the scene on the same day and had a full technical examination carried out. Members of the House have made the point that the scene was altered afterwards. To my knowledge, the only thing of significance that was altered was that the alarm button which was tied to the ligature around his neck, was adapted so as to prevent anybody else finding themselves attached by a ligature to that alarm button in future. There was nothing more than that.

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