John Minihan (Progressive Democrats)

I welcome the Minister to the House. Over the past few months, I have participated in debates in this House on the Ferns Report, the tragedy of juvenile crime and the distressing events in Iraq. We again find ourselves discussing disturbing circumstances. The awful events, which have led to this debate, began more than eight years ago on the 6 March 1997. As Senator Norris stated, it is important to briefly outline the circumstances of the case again because the families of the victims should not be viewed as a statistic. The events began with the brutal murders of Ms Sylvia Shiels and Ms Mary Callinan in Grangegorman, Dublin. Four months later, the late Mr. Dean Lyons made a questionable confession to investigating Garda officers of his alleged guilt in the double murder.

After consultation between the Garda and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr. Lyons was charged with one of the murders. One month later, another person, who had been arrested and detained during the investigation of another murder, made a confession regarding the Grangegorman murders. In April 1998 the DPP decided to discontinue criminal proceedings against Mr. Lyons. In July 1999 Mr. Lyons presented a signed and witnessed statement denying any involvement in the murders.

Mr. Lyons unfortunately passed away some four years ago. On 24 February last the Garda issued a statement that it is satisfied that Dean Lyons had no participation in the murders. There was also an appreciation of the embarrassment suffered by his family as a result of criminal charges preferred against him and subsequently withdrawn. Significantly, there was also an expression of regret and an apology to the family of Mr. Lyons for any embarrassment caused.

It is difficult to know where to start given this awful sequence of events. As the Minister said yesterday in the Dáil, it is crucial that we refer at the outset to the tragic human circumstances that gave rise to this motion. Ms Callinan and Ms Shiels were victims of a heinous crime. Notwithstanding the subsequent events, we must not minimise or forget that tragedy. Their families suffered at the time of their loss and at several points as the terrible events I outlined earlier unfolded over subsequent months and years. All members of this House will share my feelings of deepest sympathy for the Callinan and Shiels families. They will again be reminded of their loss as the investigation is debated, and we should be mindful of that.

On the investigation, I share the view of the Minster that this case is of significant public concern and therefore warrants the establishment of a commission of investigation under the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004. I welcome this investigation and commend the Minister and the Government on the steps recently taken. Other Ministers might have acted differently given the unfortunate passing of Mr. Lyons and the incarceration of the person who subsequently admitted to the crimes, although that statement was subsequently retracted. The Minister is to be congratulated for acting on this issue.

Many questions emerge from the events of this case. The closure of the Grangegorman murder cases remains outstanding. On the specific issue before us now, five obvious questions emerge. What were the circumstances surrounding the confession by Dean Lyons? How did the Garda assess the reliability of that confession? What lessons can we learn from that process? How was adequacy of information provided by the Garda Síochána to the DPP assessed? Could and should additional information have been provided?

Under the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004, an investigation may be established to investigate any matter considered by the Government to be of what is termed "significant public concern". While the five questions I set out refer to this specific case, the significant public concern arises because the events pose fundamental questions about how our policing and justice system operates. I welcome the fact that the draft terms of reference proposed by the Minister ask the commission to examine and report on the five issues related to the Lyons case. I also welcome the appointment of Mr. George Birmingham, SC, to the commission, and specifically that he is happy to accept the position on the basis of the proposed terms of reference.

Regarding the wider questions posed about how our policing and justice system operates, I commend the Minister for his decision to establish a separate expert group to examine these issues. This approach is wisely chosen to ensure that the commission of investigation has well defined, clear and precise terms of reference and that the investigation can be completed as quickly as possible. The wider issues must be examined, and the establishment of the expert group is the proper way to proceed.

As a society we need to be sure that Garda training, protocols, regulations and procedures are adequate. We need to be confident that the fitness of persons to be interviewed is properly assessed. Leading questions should be avoided with vulnerable suspects. The capacity of a person in custody to be interviewed should not be affected by administration or non-administration of drugs. We need to be confident that the reservations of gardaí as to the truthfulness or accuracy of self-incriminating statements made by a suspect can be recorded and communicated.

This terrible case forces us to consider arrangements to allow the Garda Síochána to have suspects professionally assessed as to their fitness to be interviewed. I wish the proposed expert group every success in its important work, the result of which will, I hope, lead to measures to prevent many of the aforementioned events from ever happening again. We must recognise the series of tragedies that emerged over the eight years since that horrific March night in Grangegorman. As legislators we must put in place the mechanisms to investigate how these tragedies came to be and to prevent them ever recurring. I commend and support the Government in its efforts.