McDowell a ‘brass neck’ over gardaí scandal

JUSTICE MINISTER Michael McDowell was yesterday accused of having an “appalling brass neck” after he turned on opposition politicians, claiming the McBrearty scandal happened on their watch.

Labour Deputy Brendan Howlin, one of the first to air the scandal in the Dail, reacted with disbelief to the Minister’s linking the scandal to the Rainbow Coalition being in power when Richie Barron died in October 1996.

“That shows an appalling brass neck. In terms of the whole McBrearty issue, it did not emerge in full until 1999. The truth and full knowledge of it was available then to the Minister for Justice and to the then Attorney General, Michael McDowell.”

Mr McDowell, who was appointed AG in June 1997, said there was a lot of distortion and cover up by politicians on whose “watch these things took place.”

He added: “Most of my critics had responsibility and did nothing to address these issues, when these implosions of discipline and these conspiracies to frame people for murder and these miscarriages of justice took place. So they should be very careful before they criticise me. They are definitely in a position of throwing stones in a glass house.”

A spokesperson for the Minister said he was making the point that he was tackling reform of the gardaí with the new Garda Bill, something previous administrations had failed to do.

The Minister, who has faced calls to resign from the McBrearty family and opposition politicians, defended his record as Attorney General. He advised against establishing a public inquiry throughout 2001, up to at least November when the Government and independent TDs combined to vote against a private members motion calling for a tribunal.

Yesterday, Mr McDowell said his advice was that it was “impossible” to set up the tribunal while there was still a possibility of jury trials taking place in connection with the events in Donegal.

However, he added: “The decision was made to have the [tribunal] while I was Attorney General.”

The then Minister for Justice John O’Donoghue finally set up the tribunal after asking senior counsel Shane Murphy to review the papers. Mr Murphy advised in early 2002 that a tribunal should be set up.

Deputy Howlin said Mr Murphy reviewed files that had already been seen and read by Mr McDowell, as Attorney General.

These files included Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty’s report into alleged wrongdoing by members in Donegal. This report has never been published, despite repeated calls from opposition politicians.

Sean Aylward, secretary general of the Department of Justice, in a submission to the Morris Tribunal, said the allegations coming from Donegal were being treated with “considerable seriousness” as early as late 1997.

The issue was raised repeatedly over the following years. The attitude was that the gardaí should be trusted to investigate and it was only in mid-2001 that the department became concerned it was unresolved.