McDowell defends Connolly passport claim

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell insisted yesterday he was protecting the security of the State by claiming journalist Frank Connolly travelled to Colombia on a false passport.

Mr Connolly last week strenuously denied he ever visited the Latin American country and accused the minister of supporting a witch hunt against him and the privately-funded Centre for Public Inquiry (CPI).

But Mr McDowell yesterday said ministers, as well as private citizens, had a duty of loyalty to the State.

“I, and other members of the Government, have spoken clearly about the dangers of subversive activity and, on occasion, about subversive criminality.

“We did so because it is vitally important in a democracy that every aspect of public affairs should be open to scrutiny, not just those aspects which are governmental.”

He stressed: “The public should expect nothing less from its Government.”

The row followed a written reply to a Dáil question in which Mr McDowell suggested Mr Connolly was linked to an IRA plot to provide Farc terrorists in Colombia with bomb-making information.

It had been claimed Mr Connolly, along with his brother Niall - who later became one of the Colombia Three - and an alleged explosives expert, Padraig Wilson, entered Latin America in April 2001 on false passports.

Mr Connolly, executive director of the controversial watchdog CPI, strongly denied the allegation.

Mr McDowell yesterday said people who criticised his actions misunderstood his role as Justice Minister.

“In protecting the State’s security and preventing subversion of democracy - which sometimes involves making the public aware of underlying facts and allegations - it would be very wrong of a Minister for Justice to fail to take action or to speak out on the sole basis that the subject matter was incapable or unlikely to be established beyond reasonable doubt in the criminal justice process,” he said.

“When there are substantial reasons to believe that a threat to the State’s democracy and authority exists, it is the right and duty of a Minister for Justice to act in the interests of the State.

“The rights of a citizen to his or her good name must always be carefully balanced against the public’s right to be protected from subversion,” he said.