Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

Many prosecutions of abusers have been taken and hardly a day goes by when cases are not brought up. That is not just for the Dublin area but across the country. The unit dealing with domestic violence and sexual crime that the Garda has set up has been very successful in that respect.

On the most recent announcement by the Garda Commissioner, my understanding having spoken to him on the matter is that this investigation will hone in on the issues relating to whether the State and church authorities in some way facilitated people in evading justice. As I commented at the launch of the report, we must be realistic about this. The law has changed, with a significant issue being the abolition of the offence of misprision of felony a number of years ago. Any change now made can only be prospective and not retrospective. There are difficulties in that respect.

The law has correctly moved on, particularly with the 2006 Act, where a reckless endangerment offence has been brought in as a result of a recommendation from the previous Ferns Report.

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