John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I was out of the country when the findings of Dominic McGinn SC were brought to Cabinet in respect of the murder of Fr. Niall Molloy. I am disappointed at his recommendation. Having said that, I am not surprised, because the only remit Dominic McGinn was given was to review a botched Garda investigation file. In his findings he said there were serious shortcomings in that investigation. To my amazement, he has recommended that no further action be taken because the time span, 30 years, is too long. There are people still alive who can bring closure to this case. Forty-three years after the fact we are still looking for answers with regard to the murder of Jean McConville, which I agree with.

In the next couple of weeks the Minister for Justice and Equality will recommend a Presidential pardon for a Tipperary man, Harry Gleeson, for the murder of Moll McCarthy in Tipperary in 1940, on foot of a subsequently discovery that he was wrongfully hanged. The notion that we cannot do anything about the Fr. Niall Molloy case 30 years on is flabbergasting. Something very corrupt took place here, to the degree that the most notorious criminal in the country at the time, Martin Cahill, saw fit to break into the Attorney General's office and rob the Fr. Niall Molloy file and use it to do a deal with the Garda not to extradite John Traynor, one of his criminal allies, from the UK. If that does not say it all about what is going on in this case and the corruption involved in it, I do not know what does.