Vol. 490 No. 5
270 Mr. Higgins (Mayo) asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the correspondence, if any, he has had with his French equivalent and lawyers representing the family of the late Sophie Toscan Du Plantier regarding the ongoing inquiry into her murder. [10668/98]
Since 10 February 1998, when I answered a priority question on this case, the correspondence by my Department relevant to the present question has been as follows. On 17 February 1998, my Department forwarded, at the request of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, to the French Ministry of Justice, a translation into French of a letter of 13 February 1998 from that Office to the Investigating Magistrate; the translation had been arranged by my Department. On 13 March 1998, my Department, in response to a letter received from the French Ministry of Justice on 11 March, reconveyed the information previously conveyed through diplomatic channels to the French diplomatic authorities but which apparently had not been passed to the Ministry of Justice; a further copy of the formal response of 23 December 1997 to the letter of request was enclosed. On 20 March 1998, my Department acknowledged a letter received on that date from the French Ministry of Justice forwarding a letter dated 3 February 1998 from the Investigating Magistrate addressed to the Director of Public Prosecutions and confirmed that the letter had been transmitted as requested.
As regards the investigation of the case, I have been informed by the Garda authorities that the investigation file has been forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions, and his directions are awaited.
