MEP 'forgot' corruption warning

An MEP forgot a former Taoiseach warned him to stop raising the issue of garda corruption in the Dáil until he spoke with a journalist, the Morris Tribunal was told today.

Jim Higgins said he has no recollection of John Bruton telling him to ease off making representations for the McBrearty family who claimed to be victimised by gardaí.

The Senator, who was Fine Gael’s former justice spokesman, told the hearing he had to call a journalist to recap his memory which resulted in his evidence being overturned.

Under cross-examination Mr Higgins said when looking for documents this week for the tribunal he came across a decrepit A4 piece of paper frayed at the edges which had written on it “Frank Connolly Re John Bruton".

Mr Connolly was a journalist who had seen leaked documents relating to garda corruption.

“When I saw the particular piece of paper I said I better ring Frank Connolly because I had only one recollection of ever John Bruton asking me to ease off and that was in relation to the very controversial matter,” he said.

“I immediately rang Frank Connolly who verified to me that he was in telephone contact with me and asked me if in fact Bruton had asked me to ease off in relation to the McBrearty case and that this has been done at the behest of a member of the Garda Siochana who had received a complaint from a member who was a member of the Garda Complaints Board.

“I immediately contacted my barrister that we are going to have to correct that tomorrow morning which my barrister duly did.”

Mr Higgins told Frank McBrearty he did not know the identity of the garda, but said Mr Bruton – Taoiseach from 1994 – 1997 and currently the EU Ambassador to the USA – may.

Earlier Mr Higgins said he couldn’t have acted more responsibly in trying to protect the reputation of a senior garda accused of corruption, and stated he resented and rejected claims he had done anything with malicious intent to undermine the character credibility or reputation of the officer.

From 1999, Mr Higgins rigorously pressed the government to investigate allegations of corruption in the county.

His persistence eventually led to the setting up of the Morris Tribunal, which is currently trying the establish the source of anonymous allegations which alleged high level corruption among gardai.

In June 2000 Mr Higgins received the anonymous fax – sent from publican Frank McBrearty Snr – which claimed the internal garda probe, headed by Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty in 1999, was compromised.

Both Mr Higgins and Brendan Howlin, the Labour Party’s justice spokesperson, received the document, bringing it to the attention of then Justice Minister John O’Donoghue.

The document was also leaked to two journalists – including Mr Connolly – with subsequent articles appearing in two national newspapers.

In a statement in 2001, Mr Carty said he had absolutely no doubt that the allegations disclosed by Deputy Higgins and Deputy Howlin are made with malicious intent with the sole purpose of assassinating his character and good name.

Mr Higgins said he resented and rejected the tone of the letter.

Yesterday, Mr Higgins told tribunal chairman Mr Justice Frederick Morris that he had believed the source of the document was PJ Togher, a retired garda and close friend of the McBrearty family.

Both Mr McBrearty and Mr Togher deny he was the source.

A second fax making allegations against gardai was sent to Mr Higgins in July 2000 but he said it was almost illegible and didn’t act on it but forgot about it until going through documents for the tribunal.

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