In the Seanad on 17 April 2002, I said:

I met a man the other day who told me that he had celebrated his eightieth birthday recently. He said he was born on the same week that the Garda Síochána was established in 1922. He talked with pride of the Garda and his admiration for a force that was his own age and with which he had grown up.

Senator Quill spoke about our having an unarmed Garda. When one takes into account what was happening at the time, it was a brave step for those in authority in 1922 to decide to have an unarmed force. We all, therefore, regret greatly the fact that the gardaí are not unarmed on every occasion. I had an experience 20 years ago of meeting the special branch in a situation where they were armed and I spent some time in their company. I came to admire those men who knew the responsibility they had and knew that they lived with it. I came to admire their courage. We talked about the courage not only of those members of the force who are armed but of those members, such as the two gardaí who died last Sunday, who in their daily work risk their lives, as they do continually not only in that type of situation but in many others.

The tragedy of April 2000 was not only the death of John Carthy and that tragic loss for his family but the tragedy of the sadness and horror felt by those who were actively involved in that terrible shooting, which must weigh very heavily on them. We are all concerned about how that happened and how best to make sure it never happens again. It would be a tragedy if we lost something else, the body of law and due process built up over centuries that has protected us as citizens and that we have managed to maintain. We must make sure nothing we do damages that. When the Oireachtas committee was established, there was an investigation into whether that was the right way to proceed. It was understandable that such an investigation took place, but it was not surprising when a case went to the High Court and its judgment was challenged in the Supreme Court. We have had to consider if the setting up of such a tribunal is a more correct way to deal with a case such as this.

I came to admire the workings of the Supreme Court. I ended up in a court case that was appealed to the Supreme Court in 1971 and I was pleased when I heard I won that case. I came to admire our law greatly and also the strength, thought and work done by those Supreme Court judges on that and on other occasions. As Senator Ryan said, one of the judgments runs to 160 pages. I will not pretend to have read all the judgments. The Supreme Court has served us well in its decision that there is a better way to investigate cases such as this. There are many issues on which the Oireachtas can deliberate apart from making decisions of fact and decisions on the culpability or the performance of individuals. We must not tamper, tinker or risk damaging the centuries of law that have protected our citizens. It is a matter for another day to consider how Oireachtas committees can handle such situations and whether there is a better way to do so.

I am pleased it has been agreed that a tribunal will be set up. It will come within the law, the traditional method and constitutional system, which will protect the rights of the individual. I support the setting up of a tribunal. I believe we will look back on this case in later years and say that this was the correct way to deal with it and that this is the way we will protect our Constitution and citizens in the future.