Opposition to grill Taoiseach on garda corruption report

OPPOSITION leaders will today grill the Taoiseach on why the Government took until May 2002 to establish a tribunal into garda corruption in Donegal when it had a report outlining the severity of the problem almost two years earlier.

In particular, Fine Gael and Labour have demanded that Justice Minister Michael McDowell and Arts Minister John O’Donoghue clarify what they knew, what reports they received, and when. Mr McDowell this month told the Dáil that, as Attorney General in 2000 and 2001, he had “repeatedly sought” the full report of the investigation by Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty into events in Donegal.

In November 2001, the Government voted down a motion calling for a tribunal on Mr McDowell’s advice, who believed such an inquiry could seriously prejudice criminal prosecutions that were pending.It was only in January 2002 that “the appendices to the Carty report were finally delivered to me as Attorney General,” he said.