Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

The point is that these matters run deep. The Minister is in possession of correspondence from a former garda involved in the Baiba Saulite case which was also provided for the Taoiseach. The former officer in question indicated that he was shocked when the former Garda Commissioner stated there were only two whistleblowers within the force. The individual to whom I refer had approached the confidential recipient and made reports to the effect that the abduction of Baiba Saulite's children had not been handled properly and that if this had not been the case, she might not have been killed.

Yesterday I met another former garda who had been driven out of the force in the 1990s having suffered severer harassment and persecution. That individual also compiled a dossier of very serious crimes which were not dealt with. In the intervening years the said individual has come into possession of evidence which suggests there is someone in prison for crimes which they could not possibly have committed and who identified the actual perpetrator as a person about whom the garda in question had made the original report in the 1990s. Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan, now an MEP, has also referred to stories related to him by serving gardaí.

I am referring to gardaí, but what about ordinary citizens such as the family of Patrick Nugent, a banqueting manager at Bunratty Castle who allegedly was the victim of a heart attack at 23 years of age at a party attended by two gardaí? The record of the verdict at the inquest into his case in 1985 stated that while it was an accidental death, the jury had attached a rider to its findings as a result of the suppression of evidence by witnesses to the event. The jury was far from satisfied about the circumstances in which Patrick Nugent had sustained the injuries which caused his death. Accordingly, it issued a request to the then Minister for Justice to have the matter investigated because Mr. Nugent's right to life had not been protected. Almost 30 years have passed and it still has not been investigated and Mr. Nugent's family has not received justice. In the context of this matter, I also refer to Marie Maxwell whose mother, Dolores, died in very sinister circumstances; Tom Kennedy who has evidence that he paid for land which he purchased from his brother but that he was conned out of it by a rogue solicitor, Kevin Tracey; and the Smith family from Cavan who were the subject of malicious complaints and serious Garda harassment for trying to defend their rights.

The question that arises relates to what is going to be done to bring closure in the various cases to which I have referred. Vague references have been made to establishing a forum to deal with them. As Deputy Mick Wallace pointed out, our offices cannot deal with the scale of what is involved. There is a need for a commission of investigation similar to that which investigated the matters relating to the Magdalen laundries to be established in order that people might, as a first step, have their stories heard and obtain an acknowledgement of the wrongs done to them. Such a commission might also lead to their obtaining justice. We can discuss the concept of a new police service for a modern Ireland, but unless we deal with the crimes and injustices of the past, we can never move on. As I informed her on an previous occasion, the Minister has an unenviable task. However, she also has a major opportunity to make matters better for the good gardaí who joined the force for the right reasons and want something more and for those citizens whose respect for the force has been crushed as a result of the way in which they have been treated. Those to whom I refer want an opportunity to obtain justice and we need to find ways to give it to them.

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