Government ‘helped family’ with death probe
Daniel O’Callaghan, a 24-year-old shop manager from Rathmines in Dublin, was found unconscious in May 2002 in a lane beside his Gran Canaria holiday apartment. He had suffered severe head injuries and failed to regain consciousness, dying two weeks later.
His family believe he was the victim of an assault, but were deeply unhappy with the investigation conducted by the local police, who concluded that Daniel had died of an accidental fall.
They were also unhappy with the level of assistance offered to them by the Department of Foreign Affairs as they pushed for a fuller investigation.
Last month, Daniel’s mother, Dr Maeve Pomeroy, told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Affairs that her family would welcome more help from the department.
In addition, she would “like to see better” for any family unfortunate enough to be in similar circumstances in the future.
The family were grateful to Justice Minister Michael McDowell, their local TD, for pursuing the matter with his counterparts in Spain. Mr McDowell told the same committee that Spanish police had made “little or no effort” to investigate Daniel’s death.
Mr McDowell had been exerting pressure on the Spanish authorities to reopen the case, but said it should really have been the Department of Foreign Affairs pursuing the matter on the family’s behalf.
There were strong suggestions the department had failed to adequately assist the family, the committee chairman, Fine Gael TD John Deasy, said.
Mr Deasy subsequently raised the issue at a meeting of the Dail Public Accounts Committee yesterday, at which department officials were appearing.
