Top garda hits out at politicians' 'deception'

One of the highest ranking officers in the Garda today made an extraordinary attack on two of the country’s most senior opposition politicians.

Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty accused Fine Gael’s Jim Higgins and the Labour Party’s Brendan Howlin of having deceived the government over allegations he was involved in criminality.

The top police officer, currently seconded from the force to the Vienna-based Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), claims he was jettisoned on foot of the pair’s political ambition.

Mr Carty berated the politicians for passing anonymous allegations seven years ago to the then minister for justice, John O’Donoghue, that ultimately led to the Morris Tribunal.

“The truth was they weren’t worried about my reputation at that particular point in time. There was political capital to be made out of it,” he told the tribunal.

The information sent to politicians through Donegal publican Frank McBrearty Sr claimed the assistant commissioner was criminally compromised in an internal Garda corruption probe.

“It’s all very fine and I think it’s very disingenuous for Mr Higgins and Mr Howlin to go and say: ’Well we went to the minister and we assured him that we didn’t know if there was any truth in the allegations,'” said Assistant Commissioner Carty.