Whistleblower court costs to be paid by the State

The State has agreed to pay the court costs of Ireland’s original whistleblowers after discovering that gardaí withheld vital information on their case.

The McBrearty family from Donegal were wrongly accused of being involved in the death of cattle dealer Richie Barron, whose body was found on a roadside outside the village of Raphoe in 1996.

The family battled to clear their names but were met with a litany of Garda corruption, which resulted in the setting up of the Morris tribunal in 2002.

It was arguably the single biggest judicial inquiry into allegations of Garda malpractice, and eventually saw the McBreartys receive large compensation payments.

However, the fallout from the tribunal, which concluded in 2008, took another twist this week after the State agreed to pay the legal costs of a previous High Court case and a current Supreme Court appeal taken by the McBrearty family.

The costs — estimated to run to hundreds of thousands of euro — will now be picked up by the taxpayer.

The decision by the State to pay the McBrearty family’s legal costs happened after it emerged that gardaí had failed to disclose information to the court which may have influenced the ruling against the appeal.

During the High Court challenge, and for the duration of the tribunal hearing before and after the appeal, gardaí failed to disclose that the case involving the death of Mr Barron had been redesignated by An Garda Síochána as a “death by road traffic accident” — six weeks before the tribunal even began.

However, following correspondence between the family’s legal team, Attorney General Máire Whelan, and former justice minister Alan Shatter, the State conceded to the family’s demands over costs, asking the McBrearty family, in return, to strike out the current Supreme Court Appeal.

Frank McBrearty Jr said he welcomed the offer, but criticised the length of time in which it has taken for the matter to be brought to a satisfactory resolve. “Yet again, my family and I have had the justice we deserve delayed; this is not only reprehensible but fundamentally wrong.

“The decision by the State highlights their complete unwillingness to see that justice is done and done promptly. After more than 10 years since our initial High Court appeal, in which we were dealt an injustice due to Garda corruption and deception, we as a family can finally close yet another chapter of our lives — one which we’d much rather forget.”