Mattie McGrath Accuses State of 'Cover-ups' in Deaths and Failings
Mattie McGrath spoke in the Dáil, welcoming a Sinn Féin motion and praising Lucy and her family for their work after the loss of her son. He accused the government and the justice system of repeated cover-ups, called for accountability and warned he would press for a vote on the motion.
Motion welcomed and family praised
Mattie McGrath thanked Sinn Féin for tabling the motion and commended Lucy, her husband and daughter for their tenacity, energy and detailed work on the case. He said it must be unbearable for the family to have lost her son, killed Mulder, and to pursue the matter when the state has failed them.
Accusations of cover-ups and named incidents
McGrath accused the Taoiseach and successive Ministers for Justice of presiding over a system of "cover-up, after cover-up." He listed a series of historic and contemporary cases he says were mishandled, including the killing of Shane Ross, the murder at Fadden Island Malay, the Dublin and Monaghan bombs, the Oma bombs, the Whitty Island tragedy, the Stardust, the Dower affair, and the deaths of John O'Brien and Pat Hismond at Helvig Head.
Alleged systemic failures in courts and property administration
He raised concerns about illegal or false warrants being used in the High Court, repossession cases affecting families, and an out-of-date Land Registry. McGrath said these issues are ongoing and blamed the Minister for Justice and the government for allowing them to continue.
Political consequences and call for a vote
McGrath praised a deputy who broke ranks to speak and referenced a dossier and letters sent to the family, describing the official responses as hollow. He warned against delay and said he would call a vote on the motion to see where members stand, rejecting further deferral of accountability.
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I do want to welcome, and thank you Sinn Fein, putting out this motion here tonight, and indeed to welcome Lucy and her husband and daughter and family, the office, and commend her from the bottom of my heart for the tenacity, for the energy, for the efficiency, and for her sterling, detailed, forensic work that she has done on this case. It must be just unbearable for her to have lost her wonderful son, killed Mulder, as I said before, so carelessly, and to have to do that work when the state has failed. And Minister, I look at you here tonight and I see the response to your motion. Not only you, but Minister for Justice Harris, Deputy Harris, now Taoiseach, Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan, and Minister for Justice Hillary Humphreys, who is in her own constituency, have all, it should hang your heads in shame, in the way you've treated this, this tragedy. But look, it's the system, it's the system that you operate. And the first time ever I did it in this house tonight, I went up around the back and I walked around all the statues of the great men of 1916, Thomas Clarke, Paddy Pierce, and Thomas Kent, McDonough, you name, they're all there, underneath where you're sitting, the Faddle family. And you're, it's a disservice to those people, and the democracy they fought for us, the way you and your government have cover-up, after cover-up, after cover-up, after cover-up. I have some of them here, and no disrespect to the family here, but I'll read them out. The killing of Shane Ross, or young Shane Ross on the Garda station in Clownmill. The murder of Fadden Island Malay at a wedding in Offaly. The Dublin and Monaghan bombs. The Oma bombs, which was a despicable complicity from the Gardaí Corner. I know that, I met the man who drove that bomb. The Whitty Island tragedy, all those years ago. The Stardust, finally they might get some think of light. The Dower affair, we all remember that, when a man was apprehended from giving an evidence in the John Doherty issue at the time. And of course, John O'Brien and Pat Hismond, two young men who were unceremoniously murdered off of Helvig Head, cover-up, after cover-up, after cover-up. No proper Gardaí investigation. They're the only ones that I'm... Just go easy on your... Yes, they're ones that I'm dealing with myself. And the other deputies, I've mentioned many, many other ones, and it's going on. And I salute all the deputies tonight who've spoken here. It behoves us here, as elected members of this Dáil, to live up to our Constitution, live up to the freedoms that were fought for by those Gannon men. Or else we should pack up and go home and let something cater to get over. Because you're covering the system. And you have at the moment, again, I raised it here last week, and it's the situation in Strokes Town, where a false want, illegal want, was used in the High Court. And that's going on day in, day out, with repossession cases for families, with the Land Registry not being up to date. And illegal wants. And you're happy to provide over that, and all the Minister of Justice and your government. And I salute Deputy McGuinness, who came in here tonight, and broke ranks, and got time, he wouldn't get it for his own party, got some of your time accidentally, by accident, was able to speak. And I have a dossier here from the President, Oogdoran Fianna Fáil, who wouldn't mind, and 13 letters that he's written back and proper to the family. The hollowness and the shadowness of it. And he's in government now, as Tarnistan, was there as Tijic, and won't do anything about it. Am I surprised? No. Because there are decades of people all over the country, that I think of the situation in Emmerich, with the family who were a little depisoned by a factory, and met me, Oogdoran Fianna Fáil, and 35 years ago, and dismissed the just cannon fodder. Power is more important to you. To hold on to the reins of power, and to help with justice, and to help with respect for people, ordinary people out there. It's in any wonder they won't come out and vote, a lot of them, because they've lost interest in voting, because they've lost faith in the system. And he won't support your guarantee. We never had a list guarantee. To think that a man had so many crimes, could be at large here, and the whole system was a tissue fabrication of failings. A man that could kill that, and be stopped at his check point, and he put in charge of the car by a member of a guarantee corner. He had to be an insider and a garden farmer, otherwise he couldn't get away with what he could. And if he could, it's amazing, it's a sad indictment in our country, that a person like him can still be at large, we don't know where he is. He could be down the street here, in Grafton Street tonight, for all we know. And there are many other families going through all that kind of stuff, up and down the country. And you're happy, as your legacy, to preside over that. Well, I can tell you, I'm not allowing this charade tonight, by you accepting the motion, and you put it back in, for more discussion and debate. Delay, and suffrage, and deny, and then you'll be out of office. I'll be calling a vote on behalf of my colleagues here tonight, on this motion, and we'll see where your members are then. Thank you, Mr. Marcliff. Thank you.
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