Gardaí irate at McDowell’s wife’s remarks to newspaper

GARDAÍ are infuriated by comments made by the Minister for Justice’s wife who said that if she was the victim of a crime she’d be reluctant to report it for fear her name would be leaked to the media.

Niamh Brennan, wife of Minister for Justice Michael McDowell, told a Sunday newspaper that an assault on her 14-year-old son, Hugh, last year was made worse because details about him were leaked to a tabloid newspaper, but none of the names of the four youths who attacked him were published.

“If it happened again I’d be reluctant to get the gardaí involved. And if I was attacked tomorrow for example, I would be very reluctant to go to them because I know my name would go in the paper,” she said.