Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)

In describing the strong action taken on this matter, the Minister referred to significant recent reforms of the Garda Síochána, including the establishment of the Garda Ombudsman Commission. He stated: "Thanks in large measure to the findings and recommendations of the Morris tribunal, we now have a system of oversight in place to ensure, as far as humanly possible, that the abuses uncovered by the tribunal do not recur."

In that context, I will expand on an issue highlighted this morning by my colleague, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, namely, a complaint made to the Garda Ombudsman Commission concerning the tragic death of Mr. Derek O'Toole who was fatally injured when a car driven by an off-duty garda drove over him in Lucan on 5 March 2007. Subsequent to this tragic incident, I and Mr. O'Toole's parents, Christine and Derek O'Toole, made a complaint to the Garda Ombudsman Commission. The commission's report on Derek's death was published on Monday evening and is significant in that it is the first and only report into a complaint or investigation to be published by the Garda Ombudsman Commission. On the substantive complaint, the report states:

The Commission considered a number of other aspects of the incident that caused the death of Mr. Derek O'Toole and the handling of that incident by the gardaí.... The Commission is satisfied that these other matters complained of did not constitute allegations of any conduct by gardaí that might be an offence or a breach of discipline. Accordingly, these complaints were determined not to be admissible.

Essentially, the commission found that the incident which resulted in the death of Derek O'Toole did not meet the bar of seriousness, as provided for in the relevant legislation, and was not, therefore, admissible. As to the handling of the case by the Garda, I was verbally informed that the commission's view was that as an operational matter the issue could not be investigated by the commission.

The Garda Ombudsman Commission found it was in a position to investigate the alleged leaking to the media of information indicating that Derek O'Toole was known to the Garda. This matter forms the substance of the report, which has been published on the commission's website. While the investigation has some value, it found that the journalist in question, who is employed by the Irish Independent, would not reveal his source. Although the Garda Ombudsman Commission formed the view that it was most likely that this information emanated from a Garda source, it could not link a specific member of the Garda to the subsequent passing on of this information to the journalist concerned. The problem is that the investigation came to nothing and a very minor recommendation was made by the Garda Ombudsman as regards that particular aspect.

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