Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)

I support the establishment of a police authority referred to by the Minister yesterday. He rejected this proposal on the basis that accountability should be through the Minister and the Garda Commissioner. We are debating accountability because that system has failed dismally to deliver it. A total transformation, of which an effective police authority is an essential part, is required, not the reformist steps the Minister is slowly taking.

I refer to one of the six reports before us, the Report of the Commission of Investigation (Dean Lyons case) by Mr. George Birmingham, a matter I have raised for many years during the tenure of various Ministers with responsibility for justice. The case relates to the Grangegorman murders that occurred in my constituency. When I raised the case in the House, I received replies from different Ministers that no such inquiry was required. So much for accountability through the Garda Commissioner and the Minister. A blatant case of injustice was raised on numerous occasions but we were told no inquiry was required.

Granting the commission of investigation was a concession that had to be dragged out of the incumbent Minister. He stated he saw no case for it but the commission was allowed after the case was raised repeatedly. Where is the accountability in this report? There is no action by the Minister except setting up what he calls an expert group to examine interviewing procedures. No one is held to account.

The report is thorough in its detail but its conclusions are questionable and raise more questions than they answer. The Minister's comments on the Dean Lyons report are selective and skirt over the more damning aspects. The Minister accepts the conclusion that there was no deliberate attempt to undermine the rights of Dean Lyons. That sentence must be considered. Three months after recommending that Dean Lyons be charged with the murder of one woman, after Mark Nash had confessed in great detail to the murders, the investigating Garda team advised the DPP to proceed with the charge and add a murder charge in respect of the second woman. Was there no attempt to undermine the rights of Dean Lyons? The second recommendation is described by Mr. Birmingham as "extremely difficult to understand and even harder to justify". No one is held to account.

Were the gardaí who interviewed Dean Lyons untrained and inexperienced? They were the most senior gardaí at the time, including Chief Superintendent Seán Camon, head of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation; Chief Superintendent Dick Kelly, head of the Garda district with responsibility for the constituency I represent; and Detective Superintendent Cormac Gordon who was promoted to Chief Superintendent after this episode and is now in charge of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation. This is a feature of such matters, where gardaí are promoted rather than being subject to disciplinary measures. These people insisted on proceeding with a charge of double murder against an unfortunate heroin addict despite the fact that junior investigating officers repeatedly advised that Dean Lyons's first statement had no detail, the second statement was unsound and that the charge should not proceed unless new evidence was found. Junior investigating gardaí persistently recommended this to senior gardaí but senior gardaí now deny this ever happened despite various Garda witnesses. This is a situation similar to Donegal.

I am pleased the Minister is now in the Chamber. Why have no disciplinary measures been taken against these gardaí? It is a simple question. None of us likes the idea of public inquiries but the conclusions in this investigation create more questions than are answered and make the case for a fuller inquiry. The relatives of the victims also feel their voices were not heard during the investigation. They are deeply concerned that nobody has yet been charged with one of the most horrific murders in the history of the State.

The parents of Dean Lyons feel very strongly that what happened to their unfortunate son has been the subject of yet another cover-up because of his lack of education, heroin addiction, homelessness and the fact that he was up against five very senior gardaí. Those gardaí deny everything now and the Minister is prepared to let them away with it. I find that very difficult to understand and hope that the Minister addresses it in his conclusion. His few remarks about the Dean Lyons case yesterday simply skirted over these issues and failed to deal with them properly. I would like to know what the Minister feels about the points I have made.

I accept that I have run into the next speaker's slot, but I am glad to have had the opportunity to have made those few points.

See this speech in context