Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There has to be, and should be, accountability. I am not clear what the Deputy is proposing. These are very serious scandals in themselves, in terms of the Grace case and the case of Brandon and what transpired there. The Deputy referenced the south Kerry CAMHS. At this initial stage, I would put a question mark after the word "rogue". I think that is judgmental of the individual because I do not believe it is one issue pertaining to one individual. There are issues in terms of prescribing and so on but whether it was wilful or not is a separate matter. That is part of the issue. It is easy for us in the Oireachtas to make judgments but when it comes to the law, the legal system and people's rights and entitlements, it is a completely different arena, and people have rights and entitlements.

It has been an accepted premise here that the DPP is independent of the political system. It has been long argued but I do not see how we could change that. I do not know whether the Deputy is suggesting we should change the status of the DPP and that there should be a different approach. On balance and having witnessed things over the years, I would not agree with the idea that somehow the DPP should be answerable to the political system because I am not too sure justice would be done, if I am frank about it. We have to be careful about that. We can perhaps look at other mechanisms to get better insights or explanations as to why certain cases are not proceeding but that then could in itself jeopardise cases into the future because no case is ever closed and new evidence can emerge that can lead to cases being progressed. The DPP must make assessments, and the Garda must make assessments on these matters. I can understand why people are very unhappy, in that the Garda wished for a prosecution in this instance but the DPP took a view, probably looking at the entire case, and made determinations. The DPP's office is independent of Government, and rightly so.

More broadly speaking, as I have said before in the House, we have established numerous commissions of inquiry on a whole range of issues. Invariably, one is never entirely satisfied with the length of time they take and the fact they never lead to prosecutions, because of their very nature, and can, in some instances, jeopardise prosecutions, in the sense there can often be a difficulty between the case being prosecuted in the courts and any material related to that prosecution being aired in a commission of inquiry.

There are very real issues for us to reflect on and consider in respect of how best we pursue these issues between, on the one hand, trying to get the truth and the accountability question on the other.

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