Garda corruption ‘on scale of Birmingham Six’

THE garda corruption case in Donegal is on the scale of the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four, Labour TD Brendan Howlin said yesterday.

He castigated Justice Minister Michael McDowell for failing to obtain crucial information on the Donegal garda investigations while he was Attorney General in 2000 and 2001.

During a special sitting of the Dáil to discuss the Morris Tribunal reports, Mr McDowell said that he had “repeatedly sought” an internal garda report during 2000 and 2001, but was frustrated. It was only in January 2002 that the report was made available in its entirety to him.

This delay, he said, prevented him and then Justice Minister John O’Donoghue from making “earlier judgments” on the matter.

Mr McDowell believed in 2001 that a tribunal into the events in Donegal could seriously prejudice pending criminal prosecutions.

On his advice, the Government voted against establishing a tribunal.

It was only after the January 2002 report of Shane Murphy, a barrister appointed to review the matter, that Mr McDowell and Mr O’Donoghue decided a tribunal was necessary.

Mr Murphy had obtained full access to the case papers, including the internal report. The tribunal was established in May 2002.

Yesterday, Mr Howlin said the matter was an “unmitigated litany of failure”.

As Attorney General, he said Mr McDowell “was negligent in the extreme in not demanding the report” and had, he said, therefore advised the Government on the basis of partial evidence.

“We have our own scandal here and now, our Birmingham Six and Guilford Four and much more.”

Fine Gael and Labour called for the minister’s Garda Reform Bill to be put on hold so that it could be reviewed. The Government is eager to pass the bill into law before the summer recess in two weeks’ time.