Change to legislation on commission of investigation may be required

Belfast Telegraph

04-05-2025

The Higher Education Minister described commissions of investigation as vehicles for producing 'very long reports'.
He also said the report which emerged from the Farrelly Commission was one of 'questionable usefulness', as it contained no executive summary, recommendations nor action plan.
The Farrelly Commission was set up in 2017 to examine the case of a woman, given the pseudonym Grace, who has profound intellectual disabilities and has been in state care all of her life.
Politicians and child protection experts expressed shock that the 2,000-page report, which took eight years and is expected to cost up to 20 million euro, did not come to more concrete conclusions.
Commissions of investigation are independent statutory inquiries, empowered to investigate matters of significant public concern.
Set up under the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004, it allows the Government to investigate matters of public concern.
Proceedings generally take place in private and were designed to be quicker and a more cost-effective than tribunals of inquiry, used by previous governments.
However, some have taken years and have been costly to the public purse.
Mr Lawless said that a commission of inquiry does not appear to be a quicker method to investigate matters.
Referring to the Grace report, he said: 'We have an historical incident or historical wrong that takes seven years to come to light, seven more years to actually investigate it, and then we get a report which is of questionable usefulness in this case. No executive summary, no recommendations, no particular action plan.
'They're not necessarily vehicles for finding facts. They're vehicles for producing very long reports.'
He said that the previous Oireachtas inquiries were 'reasonably good' but went a little bit astray and honed in on the wrongs.
'I think we can get a better model of that,' he told RTE's The Week In Politics show.
Asked if it required changing the legislation on the commission of investigation, he said: 'That may be required.'
Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon said that justice was not delivered in the Grace report.
Last week, legal representatives for Grace said that submissions made on her behalf were not included in the final report.
The statement was issued in the public interest and in the interest of Grace herself, they said in a statement.
In an unprecedented move, the general solicitor for minors and wards of court, which is responsible for Grace's personal and legal affairs, issued a statement to say that submissions made on behalf of Grace were not 'included nor referred to in any way in the report'.
Mr Gannon said there remains a 'job of work' to do following the report and the statement from her legal representatives.
'I don't think we can go back to a tribunal. They take too long,' he added.
'I also appreciate neither the tribunal nor the commission of inquiries have served as well to this point. I think we need to see adult safeguarding legislation being brought through to ensure that this situation, the horrible situation that happened to Grace, cannot be repeated.
'But then beyond that, we do need to understand how we get to the facts quicker and be able to deliver justice in a way that is satisfactory to victims.'
Mr Gannon also said that garda powers need to be strengthened, which was supported by Mr Lawless.
Sinn Fein TD Donna McGettigan said the report was 'shocking' and failed Grace in 'every way, shape or form'.
'It took eight years, 2,000 pages and 14 million to complete this, and there's still no answers here,' she said.
'There's serious questions hanging over why Grace was removed from the house and then put back into that deprivation, and nothing was done. It took a whistleblower to come back in, to get her back out of there. But the fact that there was substantial and extensive submissions made, and they were never referred to in this case.
'At the end of the day, we have 2,000 pages, 14 million and no answers, and the state has really failed Grace in this and many other people. Because there was more children involved in this, and nothing has been done about it.
'We need to find a better system, but we need to have accountability at the end of it.'