Request for Roma reports rejected
It comes as questions were raised in the Dáil yesterday as to why the children’s, rather than the Garda, ombudsman was appointed to investigate the role of gardaí in the cases.
Children’s Ombudsman Emily Logan had to be granted special powers by Justice Minister Alan Shatter to investigate gardaí, which is outside her remit.
She is conducting an inquiry into the role of both gardaí and the HSE in the removal of two children from their Roma families in Tallaght and Athlone.
They were returned on Oct 23 after parentage was confirmed.
The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission wrote to Mr Shatter on Oct 24 seeking the Garda report into the cases. At the time, a GSOC spokesman said: “The Garda ombudsman has written to the minister for justice requesting a copy of the report the Garda commissioner has been asked to provide to the minister. We are requesting this in order to inform ourselves fully of the circumstances surrounding these events so that we can take an appropriate position.”
That report, combining separate reports into Tallaght and Athlone, was given to Mr Shatter last Friday. A spokesman for the minister said the report would not be given to the Garda ombudsman until Ms Logan’s inquiry was completed.
A spokesman for GSOC declined to comment on the matter yesterday.
A legal source and observer of GSOC described the treatment of the Garda watchdog as “shocking”.
He said: “GSOC would have expected to get the report at the same time as the minister gave it to Emily Logan’s office, not after she finished her investigation.”
In the Dáil, Frances Fitzgerald, the children’s minister, was asked why the children’s ombudsman was investigating Garda actions instead of GSOC.
The Dáil was told by opposition TDs that both cases were “Garda-led” operations with “miniscule” input from the HSE or social workers.
Wexford Independent TD Mick Wallace claimed Mr Shatter was ignoring and bypassing GSOC which was already structured on a statutory basis to deal with investigating the gardaí.
“Surely, the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission is in a better place to deal with issues relating to gardaí. It is structured in that manner. There is the statute in place to deal with it. Why are we asking the children’s ombudsman to deal with something that is more fit for GSOC?”
United Left TD Clare Daly claimed the role of the HSE and social workers was non-existent in one and hardly evident in the other. She claimed the gardaí were difficult to investigate and said, rather than make changes to allow Ms Logan’s office to investigate, the body set up to do such investigations was GSOC.
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