McBrearty settlement runs into difficulty

LAST-MINUTE efforts to reach a settlement between the State and Frank McBrearty Junior ran into difficulties yesterday in a dispute over a claim by the State that damages sought by Mr McBrearty had increased more than eightfold since the latest report of the Morris Tribunal was published.

Negotiations are to continue between the two sides, however, meaning the High Court hearing of the case, which was scheduled to begin today, will not go ahead for several weeks.

The State, representing the Garda Commissioner, Minister for Justice, Attorney General and Ireland, yesterday applied to the president of the High Court, Judge Joseph Finnegan, for an adjournment of the hearing, complaining details of damages sought by Mr McBrearty had changed in recent days and more time was needed to examine his claims.

Counsel for the State, George Birmingham SC, told Judge Finnegan that the State still accepted the findings of the Morris Tribunal and that Mr McBrearty was entitled to compensation. But he said certain items of damages sought by Mr McBrearty appeared to have increased from €680,000 to over €8 million since the latest report of the tribunal at the start of this month.

Mr Birmingham asked for a week-long adjournment, but Judge Finnegan said he did not have a judge available to begin hearing the case on that day. He expected to be able to reschedule it for sometime in the middle of next month and the case will be mentioned in the High Court this Friday.

Mr McBrearty is claiming compensation after an attempt by a number of gardaí in Donegal to frame him for the murder of Raphoe cattle dealer Richie Barron. Mr Barron’s death is classified as a hit and run. Mr McBrearty has been declared innocent.

Martin Giblin SC, counsel for Mr McBrearty, said the State was the main influence on how long the case would take. Mr Giblin said the items of damages referred to were nowhere near the figure of €8 million and he said the State’s admission of liability in the case was so dense with conditions that it read “like a chapter from James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake”.

The case will hang over today’s scheduled Dáil debate on the Garda Bill which contains measures for the reform of the force and the way complaints against gardaí are investigated.

Labour will try to halt the passing of the bill by putting forward a private members bill calling for the setting up of an independent commission to examine the reform proposals in detail before they are made law.

The Garda Bill was yesterday criticised by the Garda Representative Association (GRA) which warned that it contained no mechanism for gardaí to make complaints about senior members of the force.