Pat Carey 'relieved' after apology but feels leak controversy tarnished close colleagues

"The sad thing about it is the people who are still very loyal to me, their names have been tarnished as well," the former Minister Pat Carey said.

Pat Carey: "It brings a sense of relief firstly, I'd love to say it brings a sense of closure, but I don't think so." File photo: Gareth Chaney Collins

Former Minister Pat Carey has said an apology from the Garda Commissioner brings a "sense of relief" but not closure to a leaking controversy.

The Garda Commissioner has apologised before the High Court to Mr Carey for the "severe and wholly unjustified distress" the former Fianna Fáil TD suffered after information in relation to a Garda investigation was leaked to the media.

"It brings a sense of relief firstly, I'd love to say it brings a sense of closure, but I don't think so. I'd also like to think that what happened to me could never happen to anyone else, but I'm probably too long around to think that would be the case."

Welcoming the apology, Mr Carey said "lessons have been learned" from the incident, however, he added that "some are learning them quicker than others".

Referring to the articles published back in 2015, he said: "Others who have questions to answer about how information that was basically conjured up could be drip fed into the public domain to cause serious character damage to myself and indeed, to those people who work closely with me. 

It's a case of tar everybody with the same brush, really it didn't matter where the arrow struck.

Asked about the leak, he said: "Some of the stuff that makes its way into the media current isn't doing any good to the reputation of some of the media." 

Mr Carey, who stood down from numerous voluntary boards as well as Fianna Fáil director of elections over the controversy, said he now wants to close this chapter on his life.

He said his partner and his wider circle of friends have been very "tolerant" and thanked them, "they do feel that in some ways the damage to them has been slightly addressed by this apology".

"The sad thing about it is the people who are still very loyal to me, their names have been tarnished as well," he told RTÉ's News at One programme.