Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for the absence of the Minister, Deputy McEntee. I understand she is at a Justice Council meeting in Luxembourg at the moment. I sincerely apologise that she is not here to answer this.

Deputy McAuliffe will be aware from previous responses to parliamentary questions submitted to the Minister that records indicate that two allegations of child sexual abuse have been made in respect of the Probation Service. Both relate to alleged incidents in the 1970s by a former staff member who is now deceased.

As the Minister has also previously advised the Deputy, the Minister is informed that when the first allegation came to the attention of the Probation Service, An Garda Síochána and relevant services were notified and a criminal investigation was initiated.

As the Deputy will be aware, in general terms, criminal investigations can be carried out only by An Garda Síochána, which then, as appropriate, submits a report to the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP. The DPP, which operates independently, then decides whether or not somebody should be prosecuted and for what crime on the basis of the Garda findings viewed against the background of common law or statute law. The Minister for Justice, as a matter of law, cannot intervene in this independent process.

The Probation Service later became aware of a second allegation against the same former staff member, who by that time was deceased. This matter is the subject of a legal claim which is being managed by the State Claims Agency on behalf of the Department of Justice. As I am sure the Deputy will appreciate, I am not in a position to comment further as the matter is ongoing.

I and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, encourage anybody who has been a victim of any kind of sexual assault to reach out for help and support and to report the matter to An Garda Síochána. There are in every Garda division specialist Garda members trained to ensure that any victim presenting to gardaí are met with a consistently high standard of specialist, sensitive, professional and expert help. There is also a range of victim support services available, and many are listed on the Victims Charter website at www.victimscharter.ie. Rape crisis centres throughout the country also offer advice and support services to victims of rape and sexual assault and operate a national 24-hour helpline which can be contacted at 1800 77 88 88. The HSE also has a national counselling service, the details of which are on the HSE website.

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