Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the case of Terence Wheelock. Terence was a young man, aged 20, from Seán O’Casey Avenue in Summerhill in Dublin 1 who died in Garda custody 16 years ago. Sixteen years on, his family are still seeking answers about what happened to him in that Garda cell in Store Street. Sixteen years on, there are so many questions with regard to inconsistencies in Garda record keeping, conflicts of views as to how a ligature could have made its way into the cell and be found in the place it was found, and how quickly the emergency services were called. While the inquest found he died by suicide, from talking to his family and listening to his community, it is very clear nobody believes Terence went into that cell with the intent of taking his life.

Last Saturday there was a remembrance event for Terence and his late brother Larry who did so much to fight to clear his brother’s name and for his brother's right to justice. Walking alongside his family, relatives, neighbours and friends, the unanswered questions were very striking. Any of us who have lost someone knows the visceral desire to know why and how. If somebody dies in mysterious circumstances that is all the more the important to know. What was utterly heartbreaking is that while I was walking with my baby girl in a buggy, a woman alongside me had a child no older than three and he turned to her and asked “Mammy, what does justice mean?”. This quest for answers has been passed on to the next generation of the family. We need to have a statutory independent inquiry into this case. In 2010, the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission undertook an investigation but from my reading of the 199-page report there are serious questions arising from it. I want the message to go out that we need to have a statutory independent inquiry into the death of Terence.

I want to reference another event that took place on Saturday, namely the protest rally on the National Maternity Hospital. It was an extremely powerful moment for the many hundreds who turned out to make their voice very clear on the issue. There were articles in the Business Post yesterday and a letter in The Irish Times this morning discussing concerns over religious ethos and suggesting that some of those concerns may not be well founded. I think the articles missed the point. If we are going to have a new hospital, we need to have it on publicly owned land, publicly operated and with a publicly controlled governance structure, and nothing less will do. For too long we have had systems in this country that are convoluted by being semi-privately owned or partially controlled by religious structures or elsewhere. We do not need to delay the project. There is an opportunity to get the National Maternity Hospital right. I share the concerns expressed and look forward to the debate on it that will take place on Friday.