Mary Moran (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I pay tribute to and commend the courage and dignity of the family of the late Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe yesterday, and pay tribute to the members of the Garda Síochána and the people of Dundalk for their strength and support for the family yesterday at the funeral. I also commend the community of Lordship who demonstrated over the past couple of days, in the face of where only a couple of miles away a callous murder was committed, what good is in the country. I was fortunate to go out to Lordship in the past couple of days and the welcome, the food and community spirit of the people who gathered together are a true testament of what good is in this country. It showed, if anything was to come out of yesterday, the extent of revulsion, not only of the people of Dundalk who turned out in their thousands to support the family where words can mean nothing to those who have been left decimated by the cruel murder, but also the support of the people of Dundalk and of the country for action against these callous murderers who committed such a heinous crime.

I want to air my concern, as I have done over the past couple of days, that when these persons are caught - caught they will be - the 40 years' sentence for capital murders will be strictly enforced, the 40 years' minimum sentence is exactly that and there will be no time off, as there has been in other cases, for good behaviour or extenuating circumstances. There can be no remission for a crime of this kind. I also want to bring up a topic that was raised last week in terms of free legal aid for persons who are convicted of such crimes and question whether persons like this who commit capital murder should be entitled to free legal aid in cases such as this.