Deputy Jim Mitchell has been given permission to raise on the Adjournment the question of matters arising from statements made by Mr. Justice Barron in the Marsh case in the Central Criminal Court yesterday. Deputy Mitchell has five minutes.
Adjournment Debate. - Central Criminal Court Judges' Statements.
Yesterday in the Central Criminal Court Mr. Justice Henry Barron had some very disturbing things to say in the case of the murder of Mr. Kieran Farmer on O'Connell Bridge on 17 March last year.
It is only right that at the outset of this short debate we should recall that a man is dead and I am sure the House will want to extend its sympathy to his relatives. It is also clear that someone is guilty of the murder or manslaughter of Kieran Farmer, but it was not Damien Marsh. In the Central Criminal Court yesterday Mr. Justice Barron went to great lengths not just to allow the case to be dropped by the Director of Public Prosecutions but to clear Damien Marsh of all the charges that were laid against him. Mr. Justice Barron said, and I quote from yesterday's issue of the The Irish Times:“You are clearly innocent of these charges”.
For the past 11 months, since the arrival of the gardaí at his door on 5 April, Damien Marsh and his family have lived under a great cloud. They have suffered great stress. His parents have been under consistent medical supervision since then. Damien Marsh has lost his job and has suffered enormously. Today on Radio 1 at lunch time Damien Marsh's father, Frank, whom I have known for many years, was interviewed. He was not recriminating, so relieved is he and his family that his son has been cleared.
It should be recalled that from the outset, and on every occasion possible Damien Marsh completely denied all the charges against him. During the process and reporting of this case not only was the good name of the Marsh family sullied but so was the good name of the area, Ballyfermot, from which they come and which I have had the honour of representing in this House for the past 14 years. I know Ballyfermot inside out and I am very proud to represent it. It is an area of great vitality and great people, and it is awful to hear day in and day out reports that sully the good name of that area and make it embarrassing not only for families like the Marsh family but for all its citizens.
In the court yesterday Mr. Justice Barron said, and I quote from today's The Irish Times:
Counsel for the accused made serious allegations of serious misconduct against several Garda officers. In this case, since the entire evidence has not been adduced I am not in a position to determine if the allegations are justified. I am not in a position to indicate officers who may have been to blame or the rank of such officers. I am concerned about some of the evidence.
I sought this debate tonight to seek assurances immediately from the Minister for Justice that he will institute an immediate inquiry to establish the full facts of the case, whether there was any wrong doing by the gardaí and if so who is to blame, and what steps are to be taken to penalise those involved; more important, what steps he proposes to take to ensure this can never happen to any other family again.
This motion, and the trial judge's comments to which it refers, raise issues which concern the functions of the Garda Síochána and also the functions of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The comments of the judge are receiving the most serious consideration and all aspects of the case are being thoroughly investigated. The Attorney General has informed me that yesterday he requested a full report on the matter from the Director of Public Prosecutions, who had already commenced his own inquiries.
I do not propose to say anything further about the case at this stage because no useful purpose would be served by doing so, and indeed it would not be in the public interest, until all the facts have been established.