John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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406. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of cases being considered by the independent review mechanism; the timeframe for a final report; if consideration will be given to publishing individual reports on a case by case basis as they are completed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15430/15]

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.

The volume and complexity of cases has led to the review taking longer than originally anticipated, but it is important that counsel take the time necessary to consider each case fully and carefully. It is therefore considered inappropriate to place a time constraint upon the working of the Panel. Nevertheless counsel are making every effort to conclude their work as soon as is reasonably practicable.

Although counsel have not finished their work, my Department has now received a number of recommendations and I therefore intend to start the process shortly of notifying the persons concerned of the outcome of the review in their cases. While it would not be appropriate to publish individual recommendations, I will consider how best information on the outcome of this process could be made public. In this regard , I have asked counsel, in addition to making recommendations in individual cases, to produce a general overview of the issue and trends identified through this process. I believe that this may lead to recommendation for changes across a number of areas, which if implemented will address many of the general and thematic concerns raised by those persons whose cases were examined by Counsel. I hope to receive this overview report in coming weeks and I will seek to have this report published.