I thank the Minister for coming to the House to deal with this issue on the Adjournment. It is an issue which has caused grave concern to the Walsh family in Galway. They have been trying to get answers to questions for the last nine years.
Edward Walsh was murdered sometime in December 1985. He was a native of Galway and since 1985 the family has been trying to get answers from the Home Office in London through the Department of Foreign Affairs. However, to date they have not received satisfactory answers to questions regarding the events surrounding the investigation into his death. I will briefly outline some of the matters which concern the family.
The body was retained for two months before being released by the London authorities. A post mortem was carried out on the body of Edward Walsh on 8 February 1986. However, the body which was returned to the Walsh family was collected from the coroner on the day before, 7 February, 1986. The Westminster coroner refused to hold an inquest. The doctor who signed the casualty notes in St. Charles' hospital now says that he never worked there. The Westminster coroner said in 1987 that the doctor who certified Edward Walsh dead was Dr. Anthony Jones. The Westminster coroner says in 1994 that he did not know and does not know who certified Edward Walsh dead.
The family now believes that Edward Walsh did not die on the night he was attacked. The family believes that Edward was alive for at least three days after he was attacked. The family was never told this. In fact, they were told that he died on the same date on which he was injured. The family wrote to the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Spring, on 22 November 1994 asking him to meet the family. Three months later they got a response saying that a meeting would not be productive. The officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs have been most helpful in trying to assist the family in uncovering answers in this sad case. However, a number of issues are still a puzzle to the family. They are anxious that the Department of Foreign Affairs would put further pressure on the British Home Office to carry out a full public inquiry into the events surrounding the investigation into the death of Edward Walsh.
The investigation began shortly after his death in London when he was stabbed in a Notting Hill flat. Former neighbours of the truck driver were charged and acquitted. The incident occurred five days before Christmas 1985 and Walsh had already informed his father that he was planning to return home on holiday. The family has unearthed evidence which suggests that the doctor alleged to have signed a death certificate in St. Charles' hospital never worked there at any stage. Cornelius Walsh, his father, and his brother Raymond have also extracted statements of a mysterious and contradictory nature which convince them that they have not been told the full truth about the death of Edward.
The key to the confusion surrounds statements by John Nodes and Co. Ltd., funeral directors. When Raymond Walsh went to London three days after the murder to collect his brother's body, which was then in the Westminster mortuary, he was first informed by Mr. Michael Nodes that his company had done no business on the night of Edward's death.