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

I accept that some matters are simply at the level of allegations, but some aspects are not allegations but facts. The coroner's court established that the baby, Noleen, who was murdered, stabbed 44 times and left in a lane, was Cynthia Owen's. As Cynthia Owen was 11 years old, therefore it follows directly that she was raped. There is no question but that an absolutely heinous crime was committed against a child. Nobody has been prosecuted for that, even though the victim of this crime has stated who she says committed that crime. The fact she states it does not make it fact, but it certainly seems to me is the basis for requiring a proper investigation of that case. It is absolutely extraordinary that the victim was not interviewed in a review of this case carried out in 2007, despite the fact that the victim and her representative contacted the senior counsel, Mr. Gageby, and said, please interview us. How can that be constituted as a serious inquiry into this most heinous of crimes? I do not wish to cast aspersions on anyone, but I cannot fathom how in a situation such as this the victim would not have her request to be interviewed about the crimes committed against her acceded to by someone looking at the case. She therefore begs for justice and for the allegations she has made and the crimes committed against her to be investigated properly.

I am glad to see that in the last few weeks there seems to have been movement on this, and if the Minister said there is confusion about publishing reports and so on, that is a reason for him to meet them to clarify these matters if it would help to move this forward. However, I do not understand why the Minister refuses to meet them. Having spoken to Ms Cynthia Owen's solicitor this morning, they wish to know what is the timescale for the Garda to report back to the Minister about its investigations bearing in mind that the only gardaí investigating this are gardaí serving in the Dún Laoghaire area where the crime was committed, albeit a new generation of gardaí. This is not to cast aspersions on them by any means, but this matter is so serious, and given that there is an allegation that gardaí were involved in the abuse and the alleged cover-up, there must be a commitment to something more serious in respect of an investigation of these matters. A sworn public inquiry is what Ms Cynthia Owen has asked for and what I believe any fair person looking at it would say she deserves.

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