Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It gives me no pleasure to raise this issue. I thank my colleague, Senator Gavan, who was due to speak today and has given me his speaking time. On 12 February, I raised the issue of funding for the Stardust inquest. I spoke of how the Department of Justice had been warned repeatedly that the legal aid route was not the appropriate mechanism to address an inquest of this size and public importance. Those warnings were ignored. In its wisdom, the Department insisted on going down the legal aid route and called for the families' applications to be processed without delay.

The previous Minister for Justice and Equality, the current Minister for Justice and the Taoiseach are all on the public record giving a commitment that the necessary financial resources would be put in place so that all the families can seek justice for their loved ones. It has now materialised that the families are being subjected to financial eligibility tests to avail of legal aid. It appears that despite the provisions for a waiver in section 29(2) of the Civil Legal Aid Act, the regulations to provide for that waiver have never been enacted.

It now means that not only are some families being denied legal aid, but a distinction is being drawn between the families, which is causing considerable distress. It has brought back all of the awful memories they have of how shoddily the State has treated them; how, after the insulting findings of the Keane inquiry, families scrambled to try to find the money to sue the owners of the Stardust to get justice; and how they were threatened with losing their homes if they continued in that quest for justice. How cruel is it that 40 years later when their hopes had been lifted at the prospect of a fresh inquest, once again the State is putting up barriers to their access to justice?

I ask the Leader of the House to write to the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, asking that she bring forward the statutory instrument to address this matter without delay. Financial waivers are not exceptional. They exist in the North, in England and in Wales. However, the Stardust inquest is exceptional. The Minister has it within her gift to finally turn the page on how the State has treated these families.