O’Reilly to face Dáil committee on drowning compensation
The department has ignored a recommendation by the Ombudsman that compensation of €245,000 be paid to the family.
The Ombudsman has criticised the department’s stance and, late last year, sent a special report to the Oireachtas on the matter.
In line with precedent, Ms O’Reilly had been expecting the matter would be referred to the cross-party Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture to investigate both her report and the department’s stance. But the Government used its majority on the committee to block an investigation.
The subsequent outcry — including a critical speech by Ms O’Reilly which attracted media attention — has since forced something of a U-turn on the Government’s part.
It has now been agreed that Ms O’Reilly will appear before the Agriculture Committee when the Dáil resumes after its Easter recess.
The Dáil returns on Tuesday, April 20, and it is understood that Ms O’Reilly will appear before the committee that week.
The case hinges on the department’s failure to pay compensation to the family of Francis Byrne, the owner of a fishing boat which sank in a storm off Donegal in October 1981, claiming the lives of Mr Byrne, his 16-year-old son, Jimmy, and three other crew members. Mr Byrne’s widow was left with a young family of five boys and three girls.
In June 2001, the then Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources launched a scheme to assist qualifying applicants who had lost fishing boats at sea between 1980 and 1989.
The department rejected the Byrne family’s application, however, leading to a complaint by the family to the Ombudsman, who found in their favour and recommended compensation be paid.
But Agriculture, which assumed responsibility for the area from the Department of Communications, is refusing to pay the money.
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