Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A number of months ago, we raised an issue regarding a man who used to run a certain summer college. He was also a teacher working with the VEC and worked with number of Irish language organisations. There was a difficulty in that there have been allegations of child abuse made against him. The Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, intimated approximately two months ago that there were to be three internal investigations, namely, one by the Garda, one in the Department of Education and Skills and the other in the HSE. I raised this issue last week with the Minister and he told me that the ongoing Garda investigation was under his remit but that the one by the Department of Education and Skills was not. I am now trying to ascertain the current position with regard to the Department of Education and Skills. What are the terms of reference of the investigation being carried out by that Department? How far back is the internal inquiry to go? Some of the allegations of abuse date from 1955.

A trial was initiated in respect of this individual, but it fell on several technical grounds. That particular case related to victims who were in an educational setting. As well as working in the Irish language organisation I mentioned, the perpetrator also worked as a teacher for a number of years and was involved in various educational initiatives. It is important in this context to establish the scope and breadth of the internal investigation being conducted by the Department of Education and Skills. I am in contact with several of this man's victims who are distraught by what happened to them and feel that because he passed away in recent months, they will never got justice.