James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for raising this most important matter. As the House will be aware, Fr. Niall Molloy was a Catholic priest who tragically died in undetermined circumstances on 8 July 1985. Fr. Molly was the parish priest of Castlecoote, County Roscommon at the time of his death. I wish to send my sympathies and those of this House to the family of Fr. Molloy for the grief and trauma this tragedy has caused them in the years since his death.

It is important to emphasise that the investigation of any crime is strictly a matter for An Garda Síochána, which is, by law, responsible for all law enforcement in this State. I advise the House that the Garda serious crime review team, SCRT, carried out a major review of the case, which involved an extensive examination of the original investigation, as well as a detailed inquiry into additional issues raised.

The SCRT report was submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, who advised in July 2013 that there should be no further prosecution in the case. The DPP is, of course, completely independent in the exercise of her functions, and the Minister for Justice has no role in any decisions made by the DPP regarding any case.

In an effort to address continued concerns over Fr. Molloy's tragic death, it was decided to appoint Mr. Dominic McGinn SC, to independently assess what information could be put into the public domain regarding the SCRT review of the case and to advise as to whether a further inquiry would be warranted.

This was an exceptional course of action, motivated by the desire to bring the greatest possible transparency to bear. On 31 March 2015, the former Minister for Justice and Equality, Frances Fitzgerald, published the report. The thrust of Mr. McGinn's report was to shed light on as many issues as possible to minimise the number of unanswered questions regarding the case.

The report by Mr. McGinn outlines how some of the concerns expressed regarding this case were not supported by evidence. It details shortcomings in the original investigation, which were identified by the SCRT review.

The McGinn report concluded that the precise events surrounding Fr. Molloy's death cannot now be ascertained. It concludes that, given the passage of time, the death of many of the pertinent witnesses and the reluctance of others to give evidence, it is unlikely any further inquiry would have a reasonable prospect of establishing the truth.

In light of all of the above, the establishment of a commission of investigation would be inappropriate at the current juncture because, as Mr. McGinn pointed out previously, it is unlikely that any further inquiry would have a reasonable prospect of establishing the truth. As such, this course of action is not being considered by the Department of Justice or the Government at this time.

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