Ex-Taoiseach told TD 'don't champion McBrearty case'

Former Taoiseach John Bruton told his Fine Gael colleague Jim Higgins not to champion the cause of the McBrearty family, it was claimed today.

At a meeting in the Dáil bar on March 7 2000, Mr Higgins told Frank McBrearty and his son Frank Junior that he had been warned by his party leader to lay off.

Mr Bruton was leader of the opposition at the time.

It was the second time former Mayo TD Mr Higgins had met the McBrearty’s as they tried to drum up support among TDs for a public inquiry into their claims of garda harassment and corruption.

At the Morris Tribunal retired Garda Patrick Togher, a trusted friend of Mr McBrearty for 30 years, revealed the claim.

He said he was in the Dáil bar at the time but did not sit in on the meeting.

Mr Togher said it was only later, as the men stopped for dinner in Lucan, west Dublin on their return to Donegal, that he was told of the shocking warning.

Mr Togher said: “When we got to the Spa Hotel in Lucan Frank Junior told me that [Mr] Higgins had told him that John Bruton had called Mr Higgins in and told him to lay off with the McBrearty’s.

“Because a member of the [Garda] complaints board, I’m not sure if it’s Drogheda or Dundalk, had approached Mr Bruton and had told him that he was causing, that Mr Higgins was causing problems and would he put a bit of pressure on him to lay-off.”

Mr Togher said the McBrearty’s thought this had put a huge dent in their quest for justice.

“I think they felt he [Mr Higgins] was under pressure to pull away from that.”

No indication was given of the identity of the officer from the Garda Complaints Board, charged with running internal investigations, who approached Mr Bruton.

The tribunal is currently trying to establish the source of ’Anonymous Allegations’ about corruption among the highest ranks of An Garda Siochana.

These claims were faxed to Mr Higgins and told to Labour TD Brendan Howlin in June 2000 but the original source of the information has never been publicly revealed.