Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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326. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality when a review by an independent panel into a complaint against the Garda Síochána, arising from an incident with a person (details supplied) in County Mayo on 14 July 2013 will be completed. [7101/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The independent review panel, to which the Deputy refers, has been examining 315 cases. This is a significant number of cases, and somewhat higher than originally estimated, but I think it was important to refer to the Panel all of the allegations that have been made to me as Minister or to the Taoiseach, whether they came direct from complainants or through public representatives or representative groups, with only the most minimal filtering out of cases which did not actually relate to the Garda Síochána. This does mean that counsel are examining a very wide range of cases, some of which deal directly with the Garda Síochána, but others of which extend to other aspects of the criminal justice system beyond my remit, such as the prosecution and trial of offences. It is also worth noting that the cases contain a very wide variety in the seriousness of the allegations.

It is important that nothing arises which might detract from the integrity of the review mechanism. It was therefore considered inappropriate to place a time constraint upon the working of the Panel, although they intend to conclude their work as soon is reasonably practicable.  The crucial point is that every case will have been reviewed by independent counsel, who will have made an objective recommendation.

Nevertheless the Panel has made significant progress and the submission of recommendations to me is being prepared by officials. Each recommendation will be very carefully considered, but as a matter of general principle let me say quite clearly that, in coming to a decision in each case, I will be very strongly guided by the independent advice of counsel. Quite clearly having engaged counsel for this review, it would be entirely appropriate to be guided by their advice. However I would also make the point 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 even though the complainant remains unhappy with the outcome. There will be no undue delay in the process of notifying complainants of the outcome of the reviews.