Tag Archives: Department of Justice

MORE people are now living at the Direct Provision Centre in Lisdoonvarna than its contracted capacity. While this does not necessarily mean that the centre at the King Thomond Hotel is overcrowded, it does mean that the numbers coming to the North Clare village are greater than what locals were told would be arriving. According to figures provided by the Department of Justice, there are 117 people living there, while the contracted capacity is 115. In a statement accompanying the figures, the department said, “The contracted capacity is not the maximum capacity. It is what we would ordinarily pay as per the contract. It is not at all unusual for the actual number of persons present in an accommodation centre to be in excess of the contract. This does not indicate that there is overcrowding at the centre. The overcapacity may be due to family configuration reasons, eg where a baby is born to a family etc.” Paddy Dunne of …

AN “incomplete” garda investigation into a Shannon fatality is akin to a “miscarriage of justice”, a local woman has claimed. The Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) recently made a ruling refusing the release of a report about a review of a garda investigation, which was completed by Superintendent Con Cadogan in relation to the dangerous driving causing death conviction of Theresa Naughton, 1 Inis Eagla, Shannon. This refusal was made following a request made by The Clare Champion to release the contents of this report under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. In the course of its review, the OIC wrote to the Department of Justice and stated a “page from section one appears to be missing”. In reply, the department stated that “everything we have has been provided to the OIC”. It stated that when it received the report, it immediately transmitted to the Independent Review Mechanism (IRM) “without perusing the contents”. “It Deprtment of Justice stated the …

THE family of the late Patrick Nugent from Sixmilebridge has accused the Department of Justice of adding “insult to injury” over its failure to update them on the potential for an independent review into his death. The death of 23-year-old banqueting manager Patrick Nugent, in Bunratty, in the early hours of February 11, 1984 is back in the spotlight this week as members of the Nugent family, from Feenagh, Sixmilebridge, have highlighted their frustration over being left in the dark for the past 13 months on a possible review of file. “The lack of communication is adding insult to injury for the family,” said his brother, John, a view shared by his sibling, Martin. “It is a like a repeat of what happened over 30 years ago when we were coming up against a brick wall. We weren’t getting any proper answers back then and it is the same now. It is hard to believe it. We will not throw …

Alan Shatter has resigned from his position as Minister for Justice, causing quite a rumble in the Fine Gael/Labour Government. The Taoiseach Enda Kenny confirmed this in the Dáil a short time ago.  The resignation, the Taoiseach said, came after getting the report of Seán Guerin into Sergeant Maurice McCabe’s allegations. Mr Shatter has taken responsibility for it since the report is critical of the Department of Justice as well as a number of other agencies. This development unfolds as  Mick Wallace considers legal action against Mr Shatter after the Data Protection Commissioner last night found that the former Justice Minister broke the law last year with comments about the independent TD.