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Dáil
‹ Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation

Sallins train robbery review

Summary

Deputy Kenny raised public outrage at the RTÉ documentary on the Sallins train robbery and the torture and imprisonment of those wrongly convicted. The Minister for Justice said Gardaí and her Department would always keep an open mind about cold cases and possible reviews.

The programme for Government gives an overall commitment to transparency across all Departments and programmes. In fairness, much progress has been made in the Department of Justice on Garda reform and so forth. However, in the last number of weeks we have seen the documentary "Crimes and Confessions" running on RTÉ. The most recent episode on the Sallins train robbery was shocking for people around the country and has generated public outrage about it. The events surrounding the torture and imprisonment of Osgur Breathnach, Nicky Kelly, Brian McNally and others appal people. It is time for the Government to come forward with a commitment to a full and independent public inquiry into these events, including the investigation and subsequent imprisonment of these men and, indeed, the actions of every arm of the State that was involved. It should not be limited to the behaviour of the Garda so-called heavy gang but must take into account each and every State body and Department that allowed this to happen. The first programme was on the Lynskey case in the Minister's constituency and next week's programme will be on the Kerry babies case. It is a very important issue and I invite the Minister to commit to a full public inquiry into this issue.

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Helen McEntee Minister for Justice Fine Gael

I thank the Deputy for his question. I watched the first programme which referred to a case many years ago in my constituency. A series of programmes has been broadcast over the last while. The Garda Síochána will always keep an open mind on any type of cold case or anything that has happened in the past, whether a case needs to be reviewed or reopened or on a more general basis in terms of any other arm of government where there needs to be further reviews or further work done. It is something the Garda Commissioner and I, as Minister for Justice, will always keep in mind. With regard to the cases the Deputy discussed, I am happy to accept any information or to meet with anyone to discuss anything further.

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