Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left)
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14. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will provide the cases included in the Commission of Investigation and the procedure to add cases into the investigation into the Guerin report. [1368/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is referring to the Commission of Investigation being established on foot of the recommendations of Mr Seán Guerin, SC, in his report of 6 May 2014 on how allegations made by Sergeant Maurice McCabe concerning certain cases connected to the Cavan/Monaghan Garda Division were handled. I published the draft Order proposing the establishment of this Commission of Investigation on 19 December 2014. The draft Order includes the terms of reference for the Commission. All of the matters recommended by Mr Guerin SC for inclusion in a Commission of Investigation are included in the terms of reference.

In terms of the possibility of adding cases to the remit of this commission of investigation, I presume that the Deputy may have in mind some of the allegations of Garda misconduct which are being reviewed by an independent panel of counsel. This panel consists of two Senior and five Junior Counsel, all selected on the basis of their experience of the criminal justice system, and the purpose of the review is effectively to triage the allegations with a view to determining to what extent and in what manner further action may be required in each case. The review of each complaint will consist of an examination of the papers in the matter by a counsel from the panel. Following the review of each allegation a recommendation will be made as to whether any further action is desirable and could practicably be taken.

I would assure the Deputy that where further investigation is recommended by the review then that will occur. However I would also make the point again that in many cases, counsel may recommend that no further action can reasonably be taken. This might be, for example, because a case has already been through due process, such as an investigation by GSOC or a court hearing, even though the complainant remains unhappy with the outcome. The crucial point, however, is that every case will have been reviewed by independent counsel, who will have made an objective recommendation.

Where counsel do recommend further investigations, I will be very strongly guided by that advice. Clearly, there are a number of possible options for further investigations, in particular by way of referral to GSOC, but any recommendation for referral of a case to a commission of investigation will be very carefully considered, including whether this could be achieved by way of amending the terms of reference of an existing commission or the establishment of a separate commission.