Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputies Ó Laoghaire, Ó Caoláin and Adams. I want to acknowledge the O'Farrell family and the work they have done on this. I particularly acknowledge Lucia who has been absolutely tremendous in her energy and dedication to ensuring justice is found for her son, Shane, who lost his life on 2 August 2011.

That brings us to this evening's discussion on this case. I listened to the Minister discuss where terms of reference came from. I know from reading his speech and from listening to him that he is informing us that the Government is not going to stand in the way of anything, is absolutely determined to achieve success in this and will not influence negatively how this will all play out. The difficulty is that the terms of reference first suggested by Judge Haughton are different from the terms of reference put before us by the Department. That is a contradiction.

For the Minister to say that he and the Government are determined to follow this through, and to use the Shatter v.Guerin case as a reason for that, rings very hollow for the family in the tragic circumstances they find themselves in. He also mentioned that he expects Judge Haughton to submit the interim report in the next number of days. The Minister said the judge is going to make some recommendations as to the expected timeframe for completion of the scoping exercise. He broke away from his script and went into other recommendations or issues he expects the judge will deliver to him. That is something most of us were aware of, that is, that an interim report was due from the judge shortly but that it would only deal with the timeframe and that everything else would be, as the Minister explained, advice as regards what he felt it should go into. It is all well and good to put that on the record, but the reality is that these issues need to be taken seriously. Unfortunately, we have a situation where this man from Lithuania was driving a car at speed and killed a young man out cycling. Any reasonable person looking at the reality of this case would conclude that he seemed to get away scot-free. That is the problem. The State has covered up this situation for too long and has covered up something that is very rotten at the core of it. That is something that we need to get to the heart of, for the Government's sake as much as for anyone else's sake. I hope the Government acknowledges that we need to get to the truth of what has happened here.

Sinn Féin has tabled an amendment to the motion, which we will move. It is a very short amendment and relates to the relationship, official and unofficial, of Mr. Gridziuska with An Garda Síochána handlers of informers. We feel, as would anyone looking at this situation, there is an issue here that has not been recognised heretofore and that needs to be included in any scoping exercise or fair review of what happened because we believe that that particular issue has in many cases around the country led to tragic circumstances. This is only one of such tragic circumstances.

The Minister's pronouncement that he is determined to recognise that the law has to be followed and to ensure that it is followed properly in all of this would sound good if we were in a situation where people could see evidence of that. The evidence before us is that the Government is continuing to shift the situation to one side and to ensure that that will not happen. I hope that the Minister will withdraw the Government amendment this evening, that both the Government and Fianna Fáil will accept our amendment, which was tabled in good faith, and that the Government will support the amended motion to ensure it delivers on this. Supporting this motion, which undoubtedly will get through when it is voted on at the end of this week, is only one thing. It puts in place a motion that does not bind the Government but it needs to step up to the mark and ensure it delivers for this family.

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