Sullivan Report - Taoiseach’s response beggars belief

The assertion by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern yesterday that the finding of the Sullivan report, whereby “an administrative error” failed to alert the Attorney General in the statutory rape debacle, is now a matter for civil service, beggars belief.

He is clinging to the finding which neatly put the blame on an anonymous civil servant for failing to alert the Attorney General about the case, and in so doing, he is hitching himself to a straw.

Mr O’Sullivan, a senior civil servant, produced the expected result that could only be found in the constrained circumstances he was asked to investigate, which was only one act in this drama.