Morris-linked civil cases could cost taxpayers millions

Civil cases against the state by victims of events being investigated by the Morris Tribunal could cost the taxpayer upwards of tens of millions of euro, it was revealed today.

Some 103 people caught up in a web of Garda corruption and cover-ups centred in Donegal during the early 1990s have already made claims for damages.

Of these just five have been settled at a total cost of €2.2m of public money. More than 95% of the cases have yet to be concluded.

The expense of compensating those targeted by a small core of rogue gardaí does not include the tens of millions of euro in public money spent on the ongoing tribunal.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell said the victims had been vindicated by the tribunal and the state would uphold their right to seek damages.

“Those people who had their rights as citizens infringed by the Irish state are entitled to due course of law and due process in relation to those matters,” he said.

“Needless to say I don’t welcome the accumulation of bills to be paid in this regard but if the rule of law and the right of citizens to have their rights vindicated mean anything, it means they do have a right to take action.

“I have tried to take as reasonable an approach as I can to that litigation and not to put people through the mill unnecessarily,” he said.

The minister added that people reluctant to cooperate with the tribunal in the past could no longer doubt the determination of Justice Morris to get to the truth without fear or favour.

“And nobody can mount a serious claim, as unfortunately was done in the past, that the tribunal itself was in some sense unfair or unwilling to get at the truth,” he said.