John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would welcome that but I am confused by the reply the Minister has given. I did not mention conspiracy or cover-up: I never mentioned that. Nor did I question Judge Haughton or his integrity or anything else about the judge. The Minister seems to defend something that has not been presented to him as an argument.

The family has said to me, and I wrote it down, that subsequent to Judge Haughton having met it, he submitted terms of reference to the Department on 24 April 2019. The family respects these terms, which go some way to reflect the motion passed in the Dáil and Seanad. That is what it has said but it also said that the Department has rejected Judge Haughton's terms of reference, and narrowed the original terms of reference which the Department had proposed in February 2019. It has removed reference to Shane and to the family's right, under human rights, to ensure an effective investigation into the unlawful killing. To date, the State has failed in its obligations in that regard. It further said that it has removed consideration of the prosecution of Shane's case, which was the first thing for consideration by the Department in the February terms of reference. It removed any consideration of the coroner's inquest into Shane's death, in which serious irregularities emerged. It removed any investigation into the previous prosecutions of the accused, despite him being in breach of multiple counts of bail when he killed Shane. It limited the judge's in taking into account of the outcome of reports prepared, being reports which in the family's view are deficient in many ways, rather than having a review carried out of the investigation behind these reports, as originally envisaged in the terms of reference.

The family engaged with the Minister and with Judge Haughton and is deeply dissatisfied with the manner in which this is progressing. I appeal to the Minister, based on the vote taken in this House, to please re-engage with Lucia O'Farrell and her family and with Judge Haughton. Please respect the type of inquiry that was asked for, which was a public, independent inquiry. There is too much at stake here.

We will learn a great amount from this case if we allow the judge full scope to deal with every single aspect outlined by Lucia O'Farrell. It will benefit the State.

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