Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim céad fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Táim anseo anocht le ceist agus cúis an-tromchúiseach a ardú, maidir le scéal atá sna meáin le cúpla seachtain anuas maidir leis an iar ceannasaí ar Chumann na bhFiann agus Coláiste na bhFiann, Dómhnall Ó Lúbhlaí, nach maireann. Bhí cláracha ar TG4 agus ar Raidío na Gaeltachta agus ar RTE le seachtain anuas a léirigh go raibh daoine ag déanamh líomhaintí go ndearnadh ionsaithe gnéis orthu fad agus a bhí siad faoi chúram Domhnall Ó Lúbhlaí.

I raise a very serious issue involving Dómhnall Ó Lúbhlaí, who is deceased and who was previously involved with Cumann na bhFiann and Coláiste na bhFiann. Allegations have been made that individuals were sexually abused by Dómhnall Ó Lubhlaí. These allegations date as far back as 1955. A number of questions need to be answered on this issue. The matter was brought before the courts on two occasions but in 1992 the case fell apart, reportedly because some of the evidence to be heard in court was not available at the time. The case fell apart on that technicality. At least four or five individuals have come forward and the 1992 case cited 53 occasions of abuse. This is a serious matter because the organisations concerned promoted the Irish language and gave access to large numbers of young males and females. I note that it was announced today that the Garda Commissioner intends to launch a full investigation but I am not satisfied that it will cover all issues arising.

It is important the Garda Commissioner has an internal investigation as to what happened in the Garda Síochána regarding this case. It is also important any other allegations made against this man are brought into the public domain so as to see the extent of the abuse.

The State itself has questions to answer. Last night a former Minister for the Gaeltacht said he was told of an allegation concerning the man in the 1990s but did not go to the Garda. Instead he made civil servants in his Department aware of it. It is not clear what happened to these allegations. Civil servants in the then Department of Education were also made aware of other abuse allegations. Did any Department or other State body act on these allegations or fail to act?

Any investigation into this matter will have to be much broader than just the Garda Síochána looking at its response to the allegations. How independent can such an investigation be? An independent outside review would be much more suitable in this case.

If this abuse had been happening since 1955, how was it allowed to continue and how were so many people allowed to be abused? An investigation is the only way to resolve these questions. It is important to ascertain what role different civil servants, gardaí and the then Attorney General played in all of this. I was informed the court case fell apart around the time there were difficulties in the Attorney General’s office which led to the fall of a Government and we were without an Attorney General for a year. Did this have any bearing on how long it took to bring these cases to court?