Morris left to extract truth from tribunal

MR Justice Frederick Morris reconvenes the government appointed tribunal into the activities of gardai in Donegal tomorrow.

It will be a chance to lay down markers on how this already extraordinary inquiry will proceed over the coming months and probably years.

There is likely to be legal argument and applications for representation named who have had the opportunity to digest the 500 plus opening statement.

Questions have already been asked about the unprecedented launch of the tribunal; every allegation and statement, however bizarre, collected by the various garda inquiries have been thrown into the mix, and then carefully and sensationally placed in the public domain.

Mr Justice Morris, in remarks made at the end of the Donegal sitting, gave one answer. He hoped the sitting showed the people of the county and across Ireland that the tribunal was serious in its work.

And the job is serious. A lot of reputations are on the line, both those directly involved and also those of gardai who somehow became embroiled in what is inarguably a sorry mess.

But it’s wider than that for if the allegations of garda misconduct in Donegal are found to be proven by the tribunal, was it standard practice and did those mixed up standards extend beyond the boundaries of the county?

Certainly, key parties to the events have decided to exclude themselves from involvement as they believe its remit should be widened. The tribunal is, the McBrearty family and associates argue, too heavily dependent on previous internal gardai inquiries.