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

I am sure the Minister of State will be aware of the documentary that was aired on RTÉ over the past number of weeks on this issue. On an evening in 1985, Fr. Molloy was found dead in a bedroom in a house in Clara, County Offaly, the home of the Flynn family. They were a wealthy family with whom Fr. Molloy had both personal and business relationships, as it subsequently turned out.

The issues around this are clear. We have had 36 years of cover-up and an unwillingness of the State to examine the issue. From the beginning, it was clear that every effort was made to smother what was happening. I believe the first that people outside of the household knew of the death of Fr. Molloy was when the parish priest in Clara knocked on the door of the local Garda station. The conversation immediately was about how it could be kept quiet. That has been how it has gone on since then.

I wish to commend the family of Fr. Molloy, and Bill Maher in particular, who was one of the key people involved with the recent documentary, and indeed, RTÉ on showing the documentary. It is an outrage that we have a situation where a priest was found dead in a bedroom and the people who were involved walked away without any recourse to justice. If we remember, at the same time in the mid-1980s, how the family of Joanne Hayes in County Kerry was treated, we will note the stark contrast between a poor family and a wealthy family and how they were treated by the State. It is something that slaps us all in the face and should wake us up to what needs to happen here.

There needs to be a full investigation into how this happened. The only way that can be done is through a commission of investigation that will compel people to tell the truth about what happened. It is a scandal that has gone on for too long. I certainly hope that the Minister of State will inform us today that the commission of investigation will be put in place as quickly as possible to ensure that this family gets justice. It has gone on for too long and it simply cannot go on for any longer.

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