Results of Garda malpractice cases after Easter, Fitzgerald tells Dáil

Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald will begin notifying individuals of the outcome of reviews into their allegations of Garda malpractice after Easter.

She told Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin TDs that the independent review into more than 300 cases was “at a very advanced stage in the vast majority of cases”.

Ms Fitzgerald said the Department of Justice had now received a number of recommendations from counsel conducting the review and “shortly after Easter I intend to start the process of notifying the persons concerned of the outcome of the review of their cases”.

But the Minister warned that “in a large proportion of cases, counsel will likely recommend that no further action can reasonably be taken”.

She noted that in international police forces only 5 to 10 per cent of complaints required further action.

The controversy about allegations of Garda malpractice and complaints of inadequate investigation convulsed the country for months last year and contributed to the resignations of then minister for justice Alan Shatter and former Garda commissioner Martin Callinan. A review was established into complaints raised by a number of TDs.

A panel of two senior and five junior counsel was established to deal with the cases, with the majority of complaints against An Garda Síochána. Ms Fitzgerald said 99 were against the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission and 128 involved other bodies. One case dated from 1969.

Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Niall Collins said a result was initially expected within eight to 12 weeks and people were concerned about a lack of communication, "and their confidence is being undermined as a result". Ms Fitzgerald said that because more than 300 cases were at issue and given the complexity and sensitivity, "the process has taken longer than initially envisaged but I did not seek to rush the process at any stage as that would not have been fair to counsel or to the people whose cases were being examined".

She said that in cases where no further action was recommended it might be “because a case has already been through due process even though the complainant remains unhappy with the outcome”.

The Minister stressed that “the crucial point, however, is that every case will have been reviewed by independent counsel, who will have made an objective recommendation”.

Sinn Féin justice spokesman Pádraig Mac Lochlainn expressed concern that while some families might have the capacity to summarise the issues coherently, others might not have those resources and “perhaps the documentation does not do them justice”. He was also concerned that people would not receive feedback until an entire grouping of allegations was dealt with.

Ms Fitzgerald said she had waited, in part, until as many as possible cases were completed “to be able to give a comprehensive report”.