Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When this process commenced, I had hopes for it, but I have no confidence in it now. I find it unbelievable Members of the Oireachtas are being asked to stand over an independent review mechanism that does not speak to the people who make allegations, does not seek further information and does not visit the bodies about which allegations sometimes are made to seek access to files. How can this be a review over which Members of these Houses can stand?

To be clear, I have stated many times that the vast majority of the men and women of An Garda Síochána during the years have been of the highest standing, that is, they have been wonderful people who have served the State. However, a tiny minority have been a disgrace to it and when people have and abuse power, the consequences can be devastating for families. It is alleged that members of An Garda Síochána colluded in the murder of people's loved ones, covered up and did not properly investigate, with devastating consequences for the families concerned. They had hope that, at last, the wall of bureaucracy would come down and that this process could start to get answers for them and put serious pressure on those who had abused their power. Instead, there was another layer of bricks on that wall of bureaucracy. They are devastated by their experience of the review panel which has been a failure for the cohort of cases that are genuine. The process might have cleared out a pile of cases that were not genuine; that is fine and let those cases be cleared out. However, there is a cohort of serious cases in which citizens of the State were abused and failed by some in power who were a disgrace to the uniform.

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