A solicitor for the family of a Clonmel schoolboy found unconscious in Garda custody said he does not believe that the report into the circumstances of the boy's arrest and detention will reach any definitive conclusion.
Cian O'Carroll was speaking after the Department of Justice confirmed yesterday that it had received the report of the Brian Rossiter inquiry into the circumstances of the arrest and detention of the 14-year-old schoolboy at Clonmel Garda station in September 2002.
The department will consult the Attorney General on the report by senior counsel Hugh Hartnett, as is standard practice, but Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan will honour a commitment to publish the report and this will done shortly, a department spokesman said.
Brian Rossiter was found unconscious in a cell at Clonmel Garda station on the morning of September 11th, 2002, following his arrest by gardaí at about 9.30pm the previous night on suspicion of having committed a public order offence in the town.
He was taken to St Joseph's hospital in Clonmel but moved to Cork University Hospital, where he died two days later on September 13th.
A postmortem by the State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, revealed that he died of head injuries due to blunt force trauma to the head.
Yesterday, Mr O'Carroll said he welcomed the completion of Mr Hartnett's report but said that the family was "not hugely optimistic and don't have any great expectation of the report providing any definitive answer as to how Brian died".