Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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338. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will support the proposal of a public inquiry into all of the cases of alleged Garda malpractice. [14073/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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There are currently 318 complaints being considered by the mechanism established by the Government for the independent review of certain allegations of Garda misconduct, or inadequacies in the investigation of certain allegations, which have been made to me as Minister for Justice and Equality, or the Taoiseach. I take it that these are the cases of alleged Garda malpractice to which the Deputy refers.

The review in each case consists of an examination of the papers by independent counsel, who then make a recommendation as to whether any further action might be taken. The purpose of the review is to triage the allegations to see if further investigations are needed. To establish a public inquiry into each of these cases at this stage would require full-scale investigations into over 300 cases, without having made any attempt to see if this was necessary or practical.

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 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.

Although counsel have not finished their work, my Department has now received a number of recommendations from counsel, and I therefore intend to start the process shortly of notifying the persons concerned of the outcome of the review in their cases.