Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

One of the people accused by Cynthia Owen as being one of the abusers was one of the gardaí who arrived on the scene when her baby was found. Evidence of the murder of the baby was lost and contaminated and the investigation into this most heinous of crimes was closed down after six weeks. No one was ever brought to trial for it. Cynthia alleges the abuse continued as did the abuse of her siblings, three of whom later took their own lives.

The Minister is aware of all of this because he acted as solicitor for a period for Cynthia Owen. A coroner's inquest confirmed the baby murdered was Cynthia Owen's baby meaning, and this is beyond doubt, a crime was committed. She was raped as a child and her baby was murdered. Incredibly, no one has ever been brought to justice for this.

In recent weeks I asked the Minister, on foot of representations from Cynthia and her legal representative, Gerry Dunne, whether the Minister would meet with them to discuss reopening the investigation into this case. He stated he would not do so because it might raise unrealistic expectations and he referred to the Gageby report on this matter, which was published in 2007. This response is completely unacceptable because the Gageby report was a paper review. Mr. Gageby refused to talk to Cynthia Owen even though she offered to give evidence. Her solicitor reports that only a few weeks before being appointed to this position Mr. Gageby stated publicly, at a national prosecutors' conference, that he believed cases of rape and abuse more than 15 years old should not be investigated. He stated counsellors and psychologists working in this area usually gave unreliable evidence. This was a very biased position to take on an examination of such a serious issue. The examination was a travesty.

The Minister is well aware of the facts because he represented Ms Owen for a while. Cynthia Owen is asking for an independent public sworn inquiry to reopen the case and examine how the investigation was conducted and get justice. This is a very reasonable request. She has written to the Minister and the Taoiseach-----

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