Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I thank both Senator Cummins and Senator Jim Walsh for their comments. I will examine the terms of reference. The commission must focus on what happened and on ensuring it never happens again. It must also focus on the way people who are psychiatrically ill or who feel themselves to be under threat are dealt with in the Prison Service. The commission must also examine the use of multiple occupancy cell accommodation in circumstances such as the one under investigation, the reasons offered for it, and whether they were correct.

It will be necessary to track the individuals in question and how they were dealt with by the Prison Service and, in one case, by the Central Mental Hospital, from the beginning, through the middle and to the end of the set of circumstances which led to this desperately sad killing.

I urge Members of the House to back the motion and the use the commission of investigation legislation. I concur with Senator Jim Walsh's point that this legislation is an innovation which hugely improves our capacity to deal with these kinds of issues. I look forward to a speedy resolution of this matter and that the facts will emerge in public.