Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The truth is that we are being left in the dark on many of the issues surrounding this. I wish to God that the Government would stop hiding behind the Attorney General. The narrative has been put forward following the collapse that it was all the ODCE's fault. It was said that the mistakes made by the ODCE were due to funding issues and a lack of forensic accountants, and that these issues have now been solved as the ODCE has been awarded an extra €1 million in funding. That all sounds great but it does not address the fact that there are very serious shortcomings and mistakes on the part of two other State bodies that do not suffer from funding difficulties, namely An Garda Síochána and the DPP. On the second day of the first trial, Judge Mary Ellen Ring stated that there is no doubt that the proceedings implied in the production of the witness statements differ significantly from the process normally used by gardaí in the course of a Garda investigation.

On the twenty-eighth day of the first trial it was also stated that there had been no good explanation offered to the court as to why there was not more Garda involvement, in the ordinary way, in the taking of the statements of the two witnesses in question. The methods used by the ODCE in the taking of witness statements were the main reasons both trials collapsed, as the witnesses were effectively coached. Judge Mary Ellen Ring asked why there was not the ordinary level of Garda involvement. Will the Minister address this question? She cannot blame it on funding, as has been done in respect of the ODCE. Does the original report, which the Government does not want to publish, address these questions?

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