Fallout from McBrearty scandal far from over

THE fallout from the McBrearty scandal is far from over and many who have followed the events that began on that fateful day in October 1996 believe it can only get worse.

Mr Justice Frederick Morris has yet to investigate in detail what happened after Mark McConnell, Frank McBrearty Junior, and members of their families and friends were arrested in early December, six weeks after the hit and run accident in which cattle dealer Richie Barron was killed.

In his report published last week, Judge Morris spelt out what he expected in the coming months, particularly in relation to how McConnell and McBrearty Junior signed an apparent confession to murder.

“The tribunal believes that it is in the public interest to resolve the issues surrounding this statement. It appeals to all parties for their support in its work,” he wrote.

The supposed confession was taken by Detective Sergeant John Melody and Detective Garda John Fitzpatrick, two of the four “Dublin boys”, members of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Cobra Squad, have had, and continued to have afterwards, a reputation as top interrogators, people to be brought in to secure confessions.

However, while the Morris Tribunal will start work on the next module on Tuesday - the so-called silver bullet affair where McConnell and an associate were wrongly accused of threatening Sligo man Bernard Conlon - the McBrearty family will continue to ask questions about who knew what and when.

Yesterday, they raised the issue of the re-designation of Mr Barron’s death from a murder to dangerous driving causing death. Frank McBrearty Jnr claimed that, in July 2002, the Government failed to inform the inquest into the death of Mr Barron that the garda investigation had been re-designated. It was re-designated a hit and run as early as February 2002, a couple of weeks before the Dáil gathered to discuss the setting up of the tribunal. The tribunal was in effect set up without members of the Dáil knowing the full facts.

More importantly, McBrearty and McConnell were officially removed as murder suspects on February 13, 2004.

The McBreartys did not find out that Richie Barron’s death had been re-designated until late last year after receiving a letter from the Garda Commissioner.

Frank Snr now wants to know whether the then Minister for Justice John O’Donoghue or the then Attorney General Michael McDowell knew it had been re-designated prior to the Dáil discussing the setting up of the tribunal.

Opposition politicians are also pressing for answers and would have done so in the Dáil this week, if it had not been shut down for five days.

While Judge Morris touched on how the Department of Justice reacted to the unfolding scandal, it is not part of his remit to investigate its involvement. Nevertheless, the Department of Justice, unlike the McBreartys, has a full legal team at the tribunal. It has cost the State in the region of €300,000 so far.

Private investigator Billy Flynn, who was hired by the McBrearty family as it became clear they were being subjected to a sustained campaign of intimidation, sent 118 reports to the Department of Justice and the Garda Commissioner.

Much of what is detailed in those reports has been proved to be true. Mr Flynn said yesterday those reports and complaints came straight back to Donegal, to the very officers against whom suspicions had been raised.