Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the serious issue with the Taoiseach concerning the rights of a murder victim's family. Two young women, Elizabeth Plunkett and Mary Duffy, were murdered in 1976 by John Shaw and Geoffrey Evans acting together. Evans later died in prison. Shaw is serving a life sentence and is before the Parole Board for review. Shaw was never convicted of Elizabeth's murder. He was convicted of Mary Duffy's murder, but Elizabeth Plunkett's family are not legally regarded as victims within the Parole Board process. The family only learned of this heartbreaking news several months into the process, much to their distress. This anomaly must be addressed to protect the rights of victims' families. To compound the shocking injustice to the Plunkett family, it transpires further that an inquest was never held into their sister's death nor was a death certificate issued. Elizabeth's family, constituents of mine, have asked me now to make public their plight today for the first time since the murder of their sister nearly 50 years ago. They have asked me to make a specific request of the Taoiseach that the Government would commit to providing sufficient resources to enable the coroner in Wexford, where Elizabeth's body was found, to carry out the long-overdue inquest without delay. Gabhaim buíochas.

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