Senior gardaí 'should be punished' over Lyons affair
Senior gardaí criticised in a Government report into the Dean Lyons affair should be be punished appropriately, a TD said tonight.
Justice Minister Michael McDowell received the final report from the Commission of Investigation which he said he intends to publish early next month.
Homeless heroin addict Lyons was charged in 1997 with the brutal murder of psychiatric patients Sylvia Sheils, 59 and Mary Callinan, 61 at St Brendan’s Hospital in Grangegorman, Dublin.
Soon after another man, Mark Nash, who had been arrested in relation to the murder of his girlfriend’s sister and her husband in Co Roscommon, also confessed to the murders.
The charges were eventually dropped against Lyons and he later died of an overdose in 2000.
Local TD Tony Gregory, who has persistently raised the issue in the Dáil, said he looked forward to the full truth emerging when the report is published.
“I pursued the issue because I had serious concerns about how the gardaí dealt with it and I’m not surprised that they are issues now arising from which seem to indicate that senior gardaí did not act appropriately.
“I trust that when the report is published, the truth will come out completely.
“If there were serious faults on the part of individual gardai, they should be dealt with in an appropriate manner.”
Leaked extracts of the Commission of Inquiry conducted by barrister George Bermingham, claim that five senior gardaí ignored concerns from junior officers over the credibility of Lyons’ original confession to the murders.
One garda had referred to Lyons as a ’Walter Mitty’ character.
According to the leaks, gardaí were also criticised in Mr Bermingham’s report for continuing to pursue Lyons after convicted double murderer Nash confessed to the killings.
Mr Gregory has raised the issue in the Dáil several times going back to when Mr McDowell was Attorney General from 1999-2002.
Mr Gregory added: “It was like trying to get blood out of a stone with McDowell.
“This is another scandal involving senior gardaí and he was reluctant to take them on.”
Mr McDowell said today that the families concerned would be advised of the report’s contents when it is published.
A Justice Department spokesperson said of the leaks: “The Department is not in a position to comment on the accuracy or otherwise of those articles.
“Under the Commission of Investigation Act, 2004 a commission before submitting a report to a Minister must send a draft of the report or the relevant part of the report to any person identified in the report.
“A person who receives a draft of the report or part thereof commits an offence if he or she discloses its contents without the consent of the commission or to the extent necessary for the purposes of an application to the Court. This offence applies to individuals and to body corporates and attracts a fine of up to €300,000 and, in the case of an individual, imprisonment up to five years. ”
