Last night on BBC One, Spotlight’s Mandy McAuley investigated the use of public money to pay the rent of constituency offices of MLAs including Arlene Foster (DUP), Ross Hussey (UUP) and Sinn Féin members Martin McGuinness, Francie Molloy, Mitchel McLaughlin and Daithí McKay.
If ye can’t beat them, rob them.
The second part of the two-part exposé continues next Tuesday.
Part one is repeated tonight on BBC Two NI at 11:20pm.
Former Irish Independent journalist Gemma O’Doherty and former Garda John Wilson with representatives of families seeking justice for their dead relatives in Stormont Castle yesterday
UTV’s news report last night on how a group of families, accompanied by former Irish Independent journalist Gemma O’Doherty and former Garda John Wilson travelled to Stormont Castle yesterday to seek help in their attempts to get justice for deceased relatives.
The families feel gardaí did not carry out proper investigations into their cases.
They made the journey North to meet senior politicians because, despite attempts, they say they couldn’t get a meeting with Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
The group included Lucia O’Farrell, mother of hit-and-run victim Shane O’Farrell, who died in August 2011; Anne and Eamonn Tuohey, parents of Shane Tuohey, who died in Clara, Co Offaly in 2002; Cyril Goonan, brother of Jim Goonan, who was killed in Birr, Co Offaly in 2002; and Ann Doherty, twin sister of Mary Boyle (6) who went missing in Donegal in 1977. Brian Sheridan, a former Director of Elections for Fine Gael in Laois/Offaly and who has been campaigning for justice for murdered Fr Niall Molloy, also attended.
Sinn Féin have also created a video of the group’s meeting with Martin McGuinness here, which includes an interview with Gemma in which she talked about “a dangerous and close relationship” between certain sections of the media in the Republic of Ireland and the gardaí.
Supporters of former Irish Independent journalist Gemma O’Doherty outside the newspaper’s office on Talbot Street, Dublin 1, on August 27, 2013 – including Limerick-based Catherine Costelloe, a former officer with the London Metropolitan Police, far left, and former Garda John Wilson, far right
Families for Justice write:
Tomorrow, a delegation of families seeking justice for their deceased relatives will visit Stormont Castle to meet senior politicians. The families, who live in the Republic of Ireland, have lost loved ones in violent circumstances – in two cases, their own children. They believe An Garda Síochána failed to investigate the deaths properly. They have also been unable to get a meeting with Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
The families will be accompanied by Garda whistleblower John Wilson and journalist Gemma O’Doherty. This is the first phase in a new international awareness-raising campaign about cases of alleged Garda wrongdoing which will be taken to the European Parliament and the United Nations, among other institutions, in 2015.
The families who will visit Stormont include Lucia O’Farrell, mother of Shane who was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Co Monaghan in 2011; Anne and Eamonn Tuohey, parents of Shane who died in Clara, Co Offaly in 2002; Cyril Goonan, brother of Jim who was killed in Birr, Co Offaly in 2002; and Ann Doherty, twin sister of Mary Boyle (6) who went missing in Donegal in 1977.
Also joining the delegation is Limerick-based Catherine Costelloe, a former officer with the London Metropolitan Police who, since returning to Ireland, has spent many years searching for people who have been murdered but whose remains are missing.
Brian Sheridan, a former Director of Elections for Fine Gael in Laois/Offaly, who has been at the forefront of the justice campaign for Fr Niall Molloy, will also attend. The delegation will meet senior politicians from each of the political parties in Northern Ireland including the DUP, Sinn Féin, the UUP, the SDLP and the Alliance Party. The delegation will arrive at Stormont on Thursday at 11am.
Deputy First Min Martin McGuinness to meet victims of Garda wrongdoing including Lucia O’Farrell and Eamonn Tuohey in Stormont next week — Gemma O’Doherty (@gemmaod1) November 7, 2014
Victims of Garda corruption to meet leading Unionist politicians in Stormont on Thursday.
John Wilson and I will be visiting Stormont next week with a delegation of families who have been victims of Garda wrongdoing. — Gemma O’Doherty (@gemmaod1) November 5, 2014
