McDowell should get off the stage and try new tactics in drugs war

IT was not so long ago that Michael McDowell was calling for the jailing of gardaí who leaked information.

Of course, that was as a result of his suspicion that a garda had given information to a newspaper about an assault on his son. His anxiety about the privacy of his family was understandable, but he has behaved as if he believes there is one law for himself and another for everybody else.

He gave lousy example to public servants in leaking documents to Sam Smyth of the Irish Independent for a story on allegations that Frank Connolly had applied for a false passport and went to Colombia.