Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

Any extension of the investigation would involve costs to the Exchequer. The cost to date of the commission on the Dublin archdiocese is in the region of €4.4 million. This does not include third party costs which will follow. The Cloyne investigation costs are in the region of €1 million to date. The question of extending it to 21 other dioceses or even the diocese of Raphoe would incur additional expense. I will not make a decision here on the floor of the House in that regard; it is a matter for Government to decide. As Minister I have ultimate responsibility for policy on justice matters. On the publication of the Murphy report I indicated to the Garda Síochána in a general way that the Government was very worried - I think I spoke for everyone in this country - about the way in which the church in particular had dealt with cases historically. For that reason the Garda Commissioner appointed an Assistant Commissioner with responsibility for reviewing all the cases across the country and not just a sample from Dublin or anywhere else. I note Dr. Martin's comments about the dark forces. It is the responsibility of this House and of the Minister to ensure that those people who are responsible are brought to justice as soon as possible and without delay. The focus of these examinations is not to find people guilty but rather to find out how the church and State authorities responded. We already know that the church in particular and the State authorities to a lesser extent did not respond in those sample cases in Dublin. We should now move on to prosecuting those people. The responsibility in that respect rests with the church authorities who know these people and where they are. Dr. Martin and anyone else with information should come forward with that information to the State authorities so that those people can be prosecuted.

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