Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The facts of the case have been laid out already tonight by a number of Members and the facts speak for themselves. I offer my support to the O'Farrell family and their ongoing struggle to make the State recognise and realise the significance of their case and circumstances. It is appalling that they have to do this. It is sad that it has had to be raised so many times in this House.

Unfortunately, the Department of Justice and Equality is not doing what it should be doing to look after citizens of this country. It has decided that it looks after the State or some such mad thing. I think the Department of Justice and Equality is the root of many problems in the State. We have had problems with the gardaí over many years which may be getting sorted out now by having dragged the Department of Justice and Equality, kicking and screaming, to making changes within An Garda Síochána. Unfortunately, I doubt there will be change in the Department, which is sad. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality and, last week, we had the Secretary General of the Department in to talk about what a fantastic new body the Department is. It is the same Department of Justice and Equality and that is a problem we have across the board. The stumbling block in all these cases is the Department of Justice and Equality because it sees itself as some sort of divine saviour of the State, of Ireland Inc., or whatever it is, and the last wall of defence. It should be working on behalf of all the citizens of this country to ensure everybody can have a fair say and get a fair hearing.

It is a sad reflection on it that the O'Farrell family has had to go through this since 2011 just to try to get the State to recognise that answers need to be given to this family. All they are looking for is answers but they seem to pose questions that are too big, that the Department will not be able to answer or does not want to answer, because it might do something to undermine the so-called State we have. What is actually undermining the State is the function that this Department plays in blocking citizens from getting decisions and a hearing on what can be done. There is no doubt, in the O'Farrell case, that the Garda, the Courts Service, the Department itself and the Director of Public Prosecutions all have questions to answer. Those questions need to be answered for everyone in this State so that everybody can have faith that the organs of the State will work on behalf of the people and not against them.

There have been three sets of terms of reference for this inquiry. The Department of Justice and Equality proposed terms of reference in February 2019 and then restricted them in July 2019. It shows the Department constantly changing the story and restricting this to prevent the truth from coming out. That is wrong and we have to get to the bottom of it. I commend the O'Farrell family for continuing to fight on to make sure they get to the bottom of it. Sadly, if they were not fighting it, we can be certain the State would not get to the bottom of it for them.

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