Programme for Government
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-04
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Ruth Coppinger (PBP), Dublin West

Are gardaí accountable or are they a law unto themselves? Who should police the Garda? I refer to a constituent of mine, George Nkencho, who was shot six times on his doorstep. We are meant to believe that that is okay and there is "nothing to see here". His family have never been allowed a public inquiry or a trial. The minimal thing they got was an inquest, which ended on Friday. That is a very limited process. It does not allow for cross-examination, examination of forensics, all those kinds of things. We are actually meant to believe that 13 gardaí wearing stab vests could not disarm a young fella with a kitchen knife - a young fella who happened to be black, by the way - and that the only solution was to get out an NP7 within one minute of arriving on the doorstep and shoot him - not once, not twice, not three times, not four times, not five times but six times, including twice in the back. It is an absolute travesty of justice that this family have been denied by the DPP, who was handed a two-year investigation and said, "Nothing to see here". The DPP also denied Nikita Hand and denies rape victims regularly. We need to talk about the DPP in this country and their inordinate power to prevent very important cases getting to court. George Nkencho should be alive today, and this State has covered this up for over five years.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-04/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:35+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-04