Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to acknowledge the role that Deputy Martin himself played in highlighting the issues in relation to the victims whose cases were investigated in the O'Higgins report. I want to reiterate the point I made when publishing the report that we should not lose sight of the central fact that at the heart of this report are the victims who were let down. The Deputy made that point himself. I have already paid tribute to Mary Lynch, who spoke last night on "Claire Byrne Live" and illustrated very vividly what victims who were the subject of these investigations went through. I phoned her this morning and will be meeting her next week, now that I am in a position to do so.

Like Deputy Martin, I believe our focus now should be on taking all steps necessary to ensure that this does not happen again. I have said already in the House that there are constraints on what I can say under the Commission of Investigations Act 2004, which form the legal basis put in place by the Oireachtas, about the claims the Deputy has mentioned that have appeared in the media. In his report, Justice O'Higgins referred to the confidentiality of the proceedings, saying that he took all necessary steps to ensure confidentiality in the way he approached the commission. All 97 witnesses who were before the commission have rights and I, and others, have a duty to respect those rights. I also have a duty to respect the law. That duty is not diminished by the fact that some media reports have appeared, as the Deputy has said, purporting to set out a small part of what may or may not have happened at the commission - they are private proceedings - notwithstanding any legal prohibitions in that regard.

I make the general point that partial disclosure of what happens in private at commissions of investigation is inherently unfair to those who participate in such commissions and properly feel bound by the laws which apply to them. It was a matter for Justice O'Higgins to reach conclusions based on the hearings and to report as he saw fit, which he has done. He has made the points in relation to Sergeant McCabe and the service and approach that Sergeant McCabe took when he took the actions that he did. The judge did not make findings or comment along the lines of some public comment lately. That is to be noted. We must remember that Justice O'Higgins is the person who heard all of the evidence and is uniquely in a position to lay out the conclusions, which he has done. The history of the unhappy events dealt with in the report show the dangers of people proceeding on the basis of incomplete information. We have very comprehensive information now from the report.

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