Tribunal hears claim of Bruton phone call

FORMER Taoiseach John Bruton ordered party colleague Jim Higgins to ease off on raising the issue of garda corruption in the Dáil, the Morris Tribunal was told yesterday.

A barrister, representing Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins, said his client was told to stop making representations for the McBrearty family, who claimed they were subjected to garda harassment in Donegal.

From 1999, Mr Higgins, then the party’s justice spokesman, rigorously pressed the Government to investigate allegations of corruption in the county.

The repeated raising of his concerns in the Dáil ultimately led to the setting up of the Morris Tribunal.

At the start of yesterday’s hearing, Niall Mooney SC, said he wanted put on record that evidence given by a retired garda earlier in the week was true.

“It has now come to the attention of Mr Higgins he did on one occasion receive a phone call from Mr Bruton and in the course of that conversation Mr Bruton did in fact request that he ease off his representations on behalf of the McBrearty family,” said Mr Mooney.

“I say that now to, as it were, to rectify the fact that you were in fact correct, I think, in what you were saying to the tribunal.

“I think Mr Higgins would also say though that the telephone conversation didn’t deter him in his efforts.

Mr Bruton, Taoiseach from 1994 to 1997, is now EU Ambassador to the US.

Mr Higgins is currently MEP for the North-West.

PJ Togher, a former garda and trusted friend of Frank McBrearty Snr, previously said he heard a member of the Garda Complaints Board approached Mr Bruton and told him Mr Higgins was causing problems and “would he put a bit of pressure on him to lay off”.

Legal representatives for Mr Higgins yesterday denied any calls were made.

Giving evidence yesterday, Mr Higgins said he first met Mr McBrearty Snr in Mayo in March 1999 when he complained of mistreatment he and his family suffered at the hands of An Garda Síochána.

Within a week the TD received a 31-page letter outlining the McBreartys’ grievances, and the pair met again at Leinster House the following month, with retired Det. Garda Togher, who defended the character of the McBrearty family.

The former TD began raising the issue in the Dáil and with then Justice Minister John O’Donoghue, who assured him an internal investigation was ongoing.

In June 2000, Mr Higgins received a fax at his office from Mr McBrearty, which alleged high-level corruption among gardaí.

The document claimed the internal garda probe into corruption in Donegal, headed by Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty in 1999, was compromised. No evidence has been found to support these accusations.

Mr Higgins told the tribunal he called the publican about it who said it had “come from my friend”.

Mr Higgins said both he and Mr McBrearty Snr were cautious about what they said on the telephone as they feared they might be tapped.

“When we were talking about my friend I explicitly understood my friend to be PJ Togher,” continued Mr Higgins. “I believed Mr Togher was the source and author of the document.”

Mr Higgins said he handed the document to the Justice Minister and demanded a public inquiry be held.

Mr Togher has denied he drew up the fax which contained the allegations.

The tribunal is trying to establish the source of the “Anonymous Allegations” which are totally unsubstantiated and formed the basis for the Morris Tribunal.