Seanad report:The decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions to re-enter a case against a Co Galway councillor was persecution, not prosecution, said Terry Leyden (FF).
Mr Leyden said he very much welcomed the decision of the DPP, James Hamilton, to seek submissions on the possibility of giving reasons for non-prosecution in many cases.
He would like to have this proposal debated in the House as he would then have an opportunity to ask Mr Hamilton why he had re-entered the prosecution on councillor Michael Fahy "who was acquitted in the appeals court".
Mr Fahey had suffered eight months in Castlereagh jail and had been fined a considerable amount. He had recommenced his work as a member of Galway County Council, "and now the DPP has decided to re-enter a case against this man".
"This is not prosecution; it's persecution of the man that is doing his duty. He brought home his mother for Christmas from a welfare home."
Yet the DPP had made his decision, irrespective of the decision of Justices Finnegan, Feeney and Irvine, to throw out the Galway Circuit Court case and declare a mistrial. "In the circumstances, I'd like to ask the Director of Public Prosecutions, James Hamilton, why he had re-entered this case when there are so many cases to be heard before our courts.
"I think it is a waste of public funds. This man has suffered enough."
It was completely wrong, unfair, and undemocratic that a couple were being made bankrupt by fulfilling what they saw as a constitutional responsibility to their young son, Joe O'Toole (Ind) said.
Members on all sides of the House expressed concern about the High Court decision that the parents of a seven year old autistic boy who had attempted unsuccessfully to force the State to provide him with applied behavioural analysis tuition, were not entitled to legal costs.