Bruton denies urging TD to 'lay off' McBrearty case

Former Taoiseach John Bruton today denied trying to silence one of his TDs who led a campaign to help a Donegal family expose garda corruption.

Mr Bruton, now the European Commission’s Ambassador to the United States, told the Morris Tribunal he did not instruct former Fine Gael TD Jim Higgins in 2000 to ease off the McBrearty case, but to ensure he had his facts correct.

But Mr Higgins, now an MEP, has told the inquiry he received a phone call from Mr Bruton where he was asked to lay off the McBrearty case.

The conversation followed an informal meeting Mr Bruton had with Garda Complaints Board member and Fine Gael supporter Dermot O’Callaghan during a day-long constituency visit to Dundalk in February of that year.

Mr Bruton, then opposition leader, said Mr O’Callaghan advised prudence and to ensure the allegations were accurate before pursuing the McBrearty case, but rejected suggestions the advice was politically motivated.

The Raphoe family are at the centre of claims of abuse and harassment at the hands of some gardai following an unsolved killing in the town.

“I do not believe I was pressing Mr Higgins to ease off at any stage,” Mr Bruton told the tribunal.

“I was simply passing on a concern.

“Once I passed that on and heard the response, I was satisfied about the matter.”

Mr Bruton said he did not believe there was anything which may have led Mr Higgins to misinterpret its meaning.

“I can understand however that as matters are retold from one person to another that meanings can become added to statements that were more sparse in their original content,” he said.

In August 2001 the chairman of the Garda Complaints Board Seamus McKenna inquired into the meeting after receiving a complaint from Frank McBrearty Senior about alleged political interference in his campaign to expose garda corruption.

In a response to Mr McKenna, Mr Bruton wrote that no member of the board asked him to silence members of the party over the case.

Asked by tribunal counsel Paul McDermott SC if the Dundalk meeting was politically motivated, Mr Bruton stressed he felt under no pressure to act on the advice from Mr O’Callaghan.

He said he believed he was being advised that Fine Gael not take action to undermine confidence in an organ of the state without first being assured of the facts.

“In that sense that was the political observation, but I did not consider at any time that I was being put under any pressure at all to do this by anybody,” Mr Bruton said.

“I consider I was being given the benefit of a consideration I ought to bear in mind and that was the basis upon which I conveyed that consideration to Mr Higgins subsequently.”

The former Taoiseach’s evidence is at odds with Mr Higgins who accepted at the tribunal that he received a phone call from Mr Bruton where he was asked to lay off the McBrearty case.

Mr Higgins, Fine Gael’s former justice spokesman, initially said he couldn’t remember the conversation and later amended his evidence after asking a reporter about the alleged affair.

Mr Higgins said journalist Frank Connolly reminded him they had a conversation were they discussed Mr Bruton’s request.

The tribunal into garda corruption in Donegal was set up five years ago after Dail questions from Mr Higgins concerning the McBrearty's allegations.

It has exposed a catalogue of wrongdoing in garda ranks right up to superintendent level.

The McBreartys claim they were targeted by gardai over several years following the killing of cattle dealer Richie Barron in October 1996.

Detectives believed it was a murder and arrested around a dozen people connected to the family.

It was later ruled to be a hit-and-run and the McBreartys cleared of any wrongdoing.