It’s a racing certainty... this is the most arrogant of all governments

IF THE government’s choice of Charlie McCreevy to steer the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill through the Oireachtas was a breath-taking piece of contemptible arrogance, then Cheltenham Charlie’s subsequent performance in taking off for the races while the legislation was being debated in the Oireachtas just beggars belief.

Is there no limit to the level of contempt that some of the members of this Government will show for the people of this country?

This is without doubt the most arrogant government in the history of the state. Charlie Haughey was often accused of being arrogant, but he never showed the kind of contempt for either the electorate, or the Oireachtas, that some of the current cabinet have been exhibiting. If Haughey had behaved in such a manner, guess who would probably have been protesting loudest? Is there any other job in the country in which somebody could just take French leave while supposedly working and go to a race meeting for the week? It is no wonder that the work ethic is pathetic in so much of the public sector with such lousy example.

You would think that Michael McDowell's department was doing so well that he could take over McCreevy's job in relation to the new legislation.

McDowell savaged Information Commissioner Kevin Murphy for highlighting weaknesses in the Government's legislation. They had treated him with even more contempt than everybody else by not consulting him about the legislation. Did the Minister for Justice think that the commissioner should have taken a leaf out of the ministerial book and just forgot about his job and gone to Cheltenham instead.

Bertie Ahern was making much of the release of the files of the Bureau of Military History. Anyone who thinks that this release was a sign of Government openness should realise that all of that material related to events that occurred more than 80 years ago. Is that anyone's idea of openness? Prior to Liam Cosgrave becoming Taoiseach all state papers were closed from the foundation of the State, except to a few people who got access to documents by ministerial permission. Even so, after more than a quarter of a century, all of the material has still not been released. For instance, the latest batch of state papers released on January 1, 2003, included the diplomatic papers relating to Anglo-Irish relations from 1935 to 1937, as well as the records of the All-Party Mansion House Conference on partition which began sitting in 1949.

While researching a book on the internment of Allied and Axis servicemen in Ireland during World War II, the army chief of staff indicated that those records were not sensitive, so he said that if I came to Dublin he would authorise me to see the material. Unfortunately, when I got there he had left a message that he had forgotten a prior engagement in the midlands, but to explain to the officer in charge what I was looking for. The late Peter Young, who was then a captain working as an archivist, was summoned and told in my presence to show me the files but not to allow me to read them. The officer in charge said that I would need the permission of the Minister for Defence to read the documents.

Capt Young was obviously embarrassed by the absurdity of the situation as he opened metal filing cabinets to show me the files, read the titles of some of them and show me the kind of material that they contained, such a maps and reports. In a few instances I would ask a follow-up question and he would read the file and answer the question, but I did not come prepared to ask such questions.

The chief of staff was apparently embarrassed by what happened and he indicated that he would recommend my request, but before the Minister for Defence replied there was a change of government and the new Minister, Brian Lenihan, rejected the request. It was some years later that I learned that he had family reasons for not opening files on the war years.

Brian's uncle, Joe Lenihan somewhat of a black sheep in the family, having been jailed for fraud in the 1930s was working in the Channel Islands when the Nazis invaded in 1940.

He offered his services to the Germans as a spy and was dropped by parachute over Co Meath in 1941, but this remained a closely guarded secret. He was never listed among the captured spies, because he evaded capture by the authorities and slipped over the border into Northern Ireland, where he gave himself up and offered his services to British intelligence as a double agent.

Why was Brian Lenihan so sensitive about the wartime files was it due to his Uncle Joe's criminal record, or because he was ashamed that Joe pretended to spy for the Nazis, or because he did spy for the British? No records should ever be withheld because of anybody's Uncle Joe! When Paddy Cooney became Minister for Defence, I applied again for access to the Army files and he invited me to discuss the matter with him. As soon as I mentioned the files he burst out laughing, and said: "Of course, you've seen those files already!" He thought what had happened was hilarious. He promptly authorised access so I finally got to read the files that I had been shown five years earlier.

By then Peter Young was a commandant and was officially in charge of the files. There was no doubt that he thought that Brian Lenihan's reluctance to grant access to those files had something to do with his relationship to Joe Lenihan.

Of course, we all know now how helpful Brian was to researchers. Remember how he fed young Jim Duffy with a pack of lies about calling President Paddy Hillery on behalf of Charlie Haughey on the night that Garret FitzGerald's first government fell in 1982. He had the gall to accuse Duffy of betraying his confidence, even though "on mature recollection" he refuted what he had told him in the taped interview. That blatant piece of deception cost Brian not only his job as Tánaiste, but also the Presidency. That was when the PDs thought that lying should be treated seriously! Many people on both sides of the Dáil were upset then by the role played by Michael McDowell, who was not a member of the Oireachtas at the time but seemed to exert more political influence as chairman of the Progressive Democrats than most of the deputies in the Dáil.

He played an important role in forcing Lenihan's resignation and then in damaging his campaign for the Presidency by his timely indignation over an attack on Mary Robinson by P. Flynn.

Remember the exquisite lecture he gave to Flynn on RTE about political impropriety! Days later the PDs blocked Jim MacDaid's appointment as Minister for Defence, and they delivered the coup de grace in forcing Charlie Haughey's resignation as Taoiseach little over a year later. They also brought down Albert Reynolds within a matter of months. They stood for integrity in public office then. What do they stand for now?