Senatior bacik on the need for a Debate on Mahon Tribunal Report

Order of Business

Tuesday, 27 March 2012

Senator Ivana Bacik: I agree with Senator O'Brien on the need for a debate on the Mahon tribunal report. All of us would appreciate generous time being spent debating the findings of the tribunal which we are all still absorbing. The report made some substantive findings and some very substantive recommendations which will require legislation if they are to be put into law. We need to debate how we do that, the merits of the recommendations and the comprehensive reform they propose to our planning and political donations law. That would be well worth debating.

The debate would also have to address the widespread web of knowledge that went along with and supported the culture of systemic and endemic corruption the tribunal found to have existed. That is something that requires a broader level of debate because it encompasses more people than those named in the tribunal report. That is something we must also address.

I call for a debate on crime in the context of yesterday's media reports that Mr. Stephen Collins and his very brave family, who had co-operated with police and prosecuting authorities and paid a heavy price for that, have left Ireland following arrangements being made with the Garda and the State. We must feel a collective sense of outrage that this brave and honourable family were forced to leave due to the threats, intimidation and outrageous violence they experienced at the hands of criminal gangs in Limerick over a period of years, the worst point being the death of their son, Roy. They endured a wide level of systemic intimidation over a long period. They were subject to 24 hour Garda surveillance and monitoring because of the threats they were under. It is a matter of shame that they were forced to leave Ireland.

I am glad the Minister, Deputy Shatter, expressed the level of support the State gave them in leaving Limerick and in making arrangements for them to go abroad. However, this underlines the need for substantive measures to be put in place to assist and support victims and witnesses of crime who are prepared to give evidence and support the criminal process to ensure criminals are put behind bars. Without their evidence and co-operation the criminal justice system could not survive. We all owe a debt to the Collins family. I pay a tribute to them and express outrage that they were forced to leave the country.