Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's statement that he is open to an inquiry and to further steps being taken. I have a son who is celebrating his results from Trinity College today. I mentioned him on the previous occasion. He will not be too happy with me but he has a similar background to the young boy who died, so it is particularly painful.

I have taken the trouble to read the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission report in full. I am reluctantly here to criticise GSOC. I do not wish to, as we want the mechanisms to work. That is the reason they were set up. We do not wish to have independent inquiries or more commissions of investigation if we can avoid them. They should be a last resort, and the mechanisms were established to ensure they would be a last resort and that questions would be answered. I have looked at some of the comments made by the chairperson of GSOC, Justice Mary Ellen Ring, for whom I have great respect and who I knew in a former life. She has gone out on a limb repeatedly, with courage, to point out that GSOC needs more staff and many other resources. On the last occasion that she appeared before the Oireachtas committee she said only two of the 12 staff that were requested were provided, that GSOC would not be able to conduct its investigation into financial concerns regarding an EU funded programme in Templemore because of a lack of resources and that there were continuing problems in accessing documentation from the Garda due to a distrust in GSOC's work, a lack of guidance from management, pressure of work and so forth.

GSOC has sought more legal powers, including the power to investigate members of the Garda after they retire and the power to seek a deferral of retirements requested pending investigations. It said quite clearly it was time to cut the umbilical cord between GSOC and the Department of Justice and Equality and become fully independent. Given my limited amount of time, I will not go into all the other things Justice Mary Ellen Ring has said repeatedly in public fora, on the radio and television and in newspapers. Why a Government would leave a judge out on a limb like that, having to make public statements, beggars belief. More importantly, it seriously undermines my belief in the Government's commitment to giving resources to an independent body.

Tonight we are again looking at a report from GSOC. People have referred to six years. I have read the report in detail and it appears that the former Minister for Justice and Equality referred the matter on 29 April 2014, which is just over four years ago. Prior to that there were six complaints from the family. GSOC decided to examine all of them. Four years later neither the Minister nor this report has explained why it has taken over four years to come this far. Surely the most basic thing to instill confidence in Members would be to tell us why we discussed this report for the first time two weeks ago, over four years later. The report is dated 29 March 2017 and it is now June 2018. If it was ready from March last year why are we discussing it now? What reasons were given? Did GSOC come forward and tell the Minister it did not have enough staff and is stuck?

Looking at the report, GSOC has done us a service in one sense. It has looked at the various allegations, teased them out and upheld quite a number saying that they require further investigation. It said no further investigation was required with regard to others. However, why is it still examining it in June 2018? Why has it not been completed? Perhaps the Minister would clarify that. That is just basic information.

Deputy Sherlock referred to an inconsistency. It might seem minor but it makes me question the report, and I really do not wish to do that. Given my background I want to accept the report but I simply cannot do so having gone through it forensically. Deputy Sherlock referred to a letter from the Garda Síochána; I will not mention the name. There is a date on the letter. Importantly, it states that Judge McBride cancelled the application to forfeit the bail and did not estreat the bail. I refer the Minister to paragraph 38 in GSOC's report which states the opposite, that Judge Seán McBride ordered the forfeiture, of €500, on 6 March. One completely contradicts the other. I do not know if there is an explanation for that, but when it is pointed out and we are given a letter that highlights it, it is difficult to have confidence in the report.

If GSOC had come forward and said that it is unacceptable that it has taken GSOC over four years to get this far and that it is now going to look further without giving a time limit or saying it will have it concluded at the end of the year, I would have some confidence in it. However, it has not done that. The Minister has not referred to it either. Now I find I must support the call for a public inquiry even though I really do not wish to because we have had so many inquiries. However, we have been forced into this situation for the family. More importantly, the family has been forced into this situation. It has provided all of us with a detailed brief. I did not receive such a detailed brief in my former life. The brief outlines everything. The family already had much of the work done for GSOC and they have continued to do that.

A 22 year old boy lost his life. There was a string of convictions before and afterwards. At one stage afterwards the number of convictions was 53, 17 outside the jurisdiction, including in Lithuania and Northern Ireland. I do not wish to personalise it but if GSOC cannot perform we are in serious trouble as a society and a democracy. Most importantly, the Minister has a responsibility. Judge Mary Ellen Ring has repeatedly highlighted that GSOC needs to be more independent and to have more resources. That simply has not happened. More worryingly, it appears that the Department of Justice and Equality decided that GSOC's application for extra staff and resources was over the top and that its business case was too expansive and unnecessary. That is the reason I have read the report in detail. I find myself supporting a public inquiry when this should have been sorted out within a year. We should have received an interim report back then highlighting the problems and what was necessary. Justice must be seen to be done.

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