Almost €800,000 so far spent on inquiry into Offaly man's death

ALMOST €800,000 has so far been spent on an inquiry into the death of Rahan man Shane Tuohey, figures released to the Tuohey family under the Freedom of Information reveal.

In 2002, 23 year old Shane Tuohey was recovered from the River Brosna in Clara by his brother Edwin, after he went missing following a night out with friends.

An inquest recorded death by drowning and the Gardai believed it was suicide, but the family believed Shane was the victim of an assault. They said he had been bullied and intimidated in the weeks leading to the discovery of his body.

In 2016 a special inquiry was launched by the then Tanaiste and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald. The inquiry was set up to examine the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr Tuohey and also allegations that the Garda investigation was flawed.

Furthermore the inquiry is seeking to ascertain what information Gardai had in their possession and whether they acted properly on that information.

With the exception of a break during Covid the inquiry is still continuing. However, apart from Shane Tuohey's father Eamon, no other family member has been called to give oral evidence to the inquiry.

Shane's brother Edwin says the family have no idea what is happening and are completely in the dark. He says the family and their legal team are not allowed to attend and they haven't been given any explanation as to why.''We have been blocked from attending, for whatever reason,'' he said.

Edwin says families involved in other inquiries were allowed to attend and given weekly transcripts of proceedings, but they haven't received anything to date.

Under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Shane Tuohey's sister Gemma requested a full breakdown of the payments accumulated so far regarding the Section 42 inquiry into her brother's death. She asked that it be broken down to more than just payments for barristers/solicitors, and asked how much each person has been paid to date.

A decision was made to part-grant her request and referred to Section 15 (1) (a) which states that a head to whom an FOI request is made may refuse to grant the request where the record concerned does not exist or cannot be found after all reasonable steps to ascertain its whereabouts have been taken.

The figures revealed to the family and seen by the Tribune refer to payments made up to February 17, 2023. It disclosed that there is one Barrister working on the inquiry at a pay rate of €394.12 per day. The rest of the breakdown is as follows: Judges Donagh McDonagh and Michael Coghlan €531.500. Barrister at law €201,967. A solicitors group €7,984, Senior Counsel €6,772, Taxi €433, Printing and postage €293, witness expenses €2,273 and stenography services €36,633. This comes to a total of €787,855.

In addition to this figure the Tuohey family like all others involved in inquiries have been allowed free legal aid. The amount of money allocated for this is the same for each inquiry. Senior Counsel €788.27 per diem (excluding vat)/€98.50 per hour (excluding vat.). Junior Counsel €394.14 per diem (excluding vat) /€49.25 per hour (excluding vat.). Solicitor €624.00 per diem (excluding VAT)/€78.00 per hour (excluding vat).

The Tuohey family and a number of others with grievances are due to travel to Brussels in September with MEPs Clare Daly and Mick Wallace as part of the Justice for All group. While there, they will meet with MEP's from other countries to state their case.

Background

The Tuohey Inquiry was one of five cases chosen for inquiry under section 42 of the Garda Siochana Act. Remarkably two of them relate to Offaly cases.

On May 15, 2017 an inquiry into the storage and retention of investigation files relating to the death in a road traffic accident of Mr. James Clancy on December 1 1987 began. It was conducted by Judge Mary Collins; That has now been finalised.

The second Offaly case is an inquiry into the conduct and adequacy of the investigations conducted by the Garda Síochána into the death of Shane Tuohey in February 2002 in Clara, to be conducted by his Honour Judge Donagh McDonagh. Judge McDonagh has now stepped down from the case and has been replaced by Judge Michael Coghlan.