Minister satisfied with Saulite case

The Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, has said he is "absolutely satisfied" with Garda handling of the Saulite case.

Baiba Saulite was shot at the front door of her home in Swords, Co Dublin, on Sunday night.

She had raised concerns about her safety with friends and neighbours prior to her death. And her solicitor, who had been the subject of a death threat, had received protection advice from gardaí in the weeks before her murder.

Following her death, Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy ordered an inquiry to establish if members of the force knew that she had fears for her safety.

The inquiry was also to review the extent to which gardaí took account of an arson attack on Ms Saulite's car last month, and other more minor incidents, when assessing the level of threat to her safety.

Speaking at Swords Garda station yesterday, the Minister said he had been given a Garda briefing on the background to the case and was quite certain that they had acted responsibly.

"I know myself from my dealings with the gardaí in relation to other investigations, if they'd apprehended any significant threat to Ms Saulite's life they would have tried to protect her, but they didn't and that's the fact," he said.

He said he was confident that gardaí were following very real lines of inquiry in the investigation into Ms Saulite's murder.

"I really want to pay tribute to the gardaí for all the very very hard work they are doing and the breakthroughs they are making on a number of things," he said.

Asked whether Senator Mary O'Rourke's comments on the murder, which she made in the Seanad on Thursday, were unhelpful to the case, the Minister said he understood she had corrected the record.

"Sometimes it is difficult for a person holding public office to be both truthful and also to be mindful of the exigencies of a Garda investigation," he said.

"I don't think she's damaged the investigation in any way."

The Minister also said he was considering a request to increase Garda numbers for Swords.

"I've been speaking about Garda numbers to the chief superintendent here and it's his view that numbers will have to go up even further again," he said.

"There's huge building here in Swords, the population is rising, Donabate, Malahide, all the areas round here have a huge surge in population."