Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak tonight. I congratulate Deputy Shatter on introducing the Bill. I concur with my colleagues. Too much politics has been played on this issue since the end of last week. Has a precedent been set that every Bill coming from the other side of the House must be legislation of original thought? I feel sorry for the civil servants who will not be able to explore best practice in other countries. They will not be able to look at good examples. In Wexford, Dublin, Clare and elsewhere the Minister, Deputy Martin, has been given credit for introducing the smoking ban. We all know that original idea did not come from the Minister, Deputy Martin. It came from a cross-party delegation that went to Florida to see how it worked there. I am not sure if the Ceann Comhairle was present, but I know Deputy Shatter was as was the Minister, Deputy Martin. We should get real about where legislation comes from. It is about carrying out extensive research into best practice in any part of the world.

I congratulate Deputy Shatter for the practical ideas in the Bill, including an independent statutory commission, which the Government has opposed. He has also proposed to provide the victims with reasonable information at an investigative stage and during the prosecution stage, which the Government has also opposed. He has also proposed a mechanism to provide the victims through some conduit with information the DPP has in so far as practicable at a given time, which is again opposed by the Government. The Government attitude in this debate has done a further disservice to the people who have been through an ordeal and become a victim. We need to be very categorical. Not many of us have been in the position of victimhood. The victims are in a very lonely place where they find it very difficult to obtain any information from the initial investigation and right through the trial, an issue that we as legislators have responsibility to address.

On 8 October 2005 Rochelle Peoples, Gavin Duffy, David Steele, Darren Quinn and Charlene O'Connor all died in a single car in a two vehicle accident. Those five young people had an average age of 22. Their families got no feedback from the DPP until 15 April 2008. That information was only extracted because the five families got together and held a press conference. It got national and local profile. That was how they expedited their case to get information from the DPP. It is a scandal in this day and age that they needed to wait for that period of time. In addition almost two and a half years later no inquest into that case has taken place. They have been in the dark. In Donegal terms they have been seeking a wee bit of justice. That is all they have sought. The Garda cannot give them information. The DPP will not give them information. That is all they seek. The Bill provides that such information would be given.

We have heard that there will be legislation from the Government side of the House in the spring. Which spring? The Government has also referred to the future. We may need to establish a new Department, the department for promises. If past performance is a predictor of future performance, I feel sorry for the people who are still going through this ordeal. We have a duty as legislators to do something about it. It is a shame the Government did not adopt a bipartisan approach rather than lying about the Bill it claims to have. Where is the Bill? It does not have one.

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