McDowell apology fails to defuse row on crime

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell crossed the floor of the Dáil yesterday to shake hands with Fine Gael deputy leader Richard Bruton, a day after comparing him to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.

But while that action, combined with Mr McDowell’s earlier apology, drew a line under the personal row, the Government was unable to shake off criticism about its record on tackling crime.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was forced to concede that Mr Bruton had been technically correct when asserting on Sunday that the number of gardaí in Dublin had increased by just two last year.