Labour leader Pat Rabbitte has called for a full inquiry into the Brian Rossiter affair.
Mr Rabbitte said it was a matter of grave concern that as serious a charge as manslaughter could be levelled against a man over the death of the 14-year-old without the authorisation of the DPP .
Mr Rabbitte said the decision to charge Noel Hannigan with the manslaughter of Brian Rossiter without the direction of the DPP was something which could not be adequately covered by the inquiry being set up by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell.
The teenager died on September 13th, 2002, after falling into a coma while in Garda custody two days earlier, and Mr McDowell has ordered a public inquiry under Hugh Hartnett SC to investigate the circumstances of Brian's arrest and detention.
Two days before Brian was arrested on suspicion of public order offences, he was involved in an incident in his home town of Clonmel, and local man Noel Hannigan was subsequently charged with assaulting him causing him harm on September 8th, 2002.
Mr Hannigan was subsequently charged with assault causing serious harm and manslaughter, but it has now emerged that these charges - which have since been withdrawn - were preferred against him without authorisation from the DPP.
Mr Rabbitte said Mr McDowell's decision to have the inquiry carried out under the Dublin Police Act, 1924, was fundamentally flawed as it required an allegation of wrongdoing to be made against a member of An Garda Síochána.
"No allegation has been made in the case of Brian Rossiter and no allegation can be made on the basis of the information available," the Labour Party leader said.
Mr McDowell had sought to similarly base an inquiry into the Garda handling of the Dean Lyons case in Dublin - where a man confessed to two murders he could not have committed - on the Dublin Police Act, and it had proven inadequate.
The proper way to proceed with an inquiry would be to establish it under the terms of the Commissions of Investigations Act, 2004, as it would allow Mr Hartnett the scope to look into all aspects of the case, he said.
Using the Commission of Investigations Act would allow examination of the DPP's handling of the case and the charging of somebody with manslaughter without his authorisation, Mr Rabbitte said. "It would allow anything to do with the Brian Rossiter case to be examined," he added.
The DPP yesterday confirmed he had not authorised the preferring of charges of manslaughter and assault causing serious harm against Mr Hannigan and said he was opening his own inquiry into the matter.
But Mr Rabbitte said this had to be made public. "Of course, it must be made public. It's a matter of public interest that somebody could be charged with manslaughter, the second most grievous charge after murder and that it could be done without the authorisation of the DPP.
"It's a bizarre revelation to say that something as serious as manslaughter could be added to indictment and was laid in error and without the knowledge of the DPP," Mr Rabbitte said.
