Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Garda and the PSNI continue to carry out their investigations on these matters. I have no doubt about the allegations that were made. We know the cost of ignoring information brought by children or young people generally in this jurisdiction, and of ignoring the seriousness of the allegations that many of them have made. However, when there are criminal investigations going on into a number of these matters, both here and in Northern Ireland, it is complicated to have a process running parallel to that. These are criminal investigations. It is important that the courts are there to deal with the end of that particular investigative process and that people are brought before the courts to determine by judge and jury whether they are guilty of allegations made. To have a process mixed up in the middle of that at the moment is not the way I think this should happen.

I know the Deputy First Minister himself admitted in public he was a member of the IRA. The names that are mentioned here are well known to them. I do not know whether Deputy Adams has spoken to the person who is named as a public representative. If there is information that needs to be given to the PSNI or the Garda, then it should be. This is a very serious charge. It is also a very serious matter to say that a person was hauled before people to be questioned and a range of punishment options set out for them to become judge and jury themselves.

I agree with Deputy Martin. Imagine a young man being fearful of something like this. Can we imagine the difficulty there was and the challenge it was for a young woman to make the allegations in public that she made? Despite this, we find that she has been pressurised and contacted in the most vile ways as a consequence.

The Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, and the Minister, Mr. Ford, have a very close working relationship in these matters, as have the PSNI and the Garda. I do not think any of us wants to interfere with the ongoing criminal investigative process, and I am quite sure it is a serious analysis by the PSNI and the Garda. I do not think I should put forward a view that, because this is proceeding, we should set up a process here. That investigative process is designed to lead to a conclusion that either there is validity or there is not, and, if there is, there are the court proceedings to follow. As I said during my reply to the Deputy First Minister, there need to be counselling services and support systems for victims of abuse in whatever community or wherever they come from. That is something that is dealt with bilaterally by the Minister for Justice and Equality, with the Minister in Northern Ireland, through the North-South Ministerial Council.

I can discuss this with Prime Minister Cameron, not on the individual cases but in terms of whether there is a mechanism through which we can deal with this, when criminal investigations cease, on the basis of support, encouragement, mentoring and protection. The courts are independent in the way they do their business and this would have to cross the two jurisdictions, but that should not prove to be an impossibility.

I take what the Deputy said in the sense in which he said it. It is something that now seethes inside people. They find the courage, after all these years, to speak out. We have to devise a mechanism to support that courage and protect people, while at the same time allowing criminal investigations to take place so that the courts can do their duty whenever that become necessary. Deputy Adams might have something to add to that in the context of the public representative named or the matter to which Deputy Martin referred, namely, former members of the Provisional IRA.

See this speech in context