Garda scandal - McDowell bid to spread blame cynical

IT is downright disgraceful that the Garda Representative Association (GRA), the country’s main garda union, has remained tight-lipped in the face of damning criticism from the Morris Tribunal on corruption within the force in Donegal.

Nine days have elapsed since Mr Justice Frederick Morris issued his scathing report, accusing gardaí of spinning a tangled web of perjury, malice, deceit, obstruction and negligence. Not to mention the framing of two innocent suspects for the murder of cattle dealer Richie Barron, who died in a hit-and-run accident.

But apart from stating it would resist measures aimed at increasing accountability of its members, the normally vociferous GRA, has remained silent.

Following a two-day meeting, however, a statement is finally expected today. The Morris report could not have come down harder, singling out a dozen gardaí, among them several GRA members, including a Donegal representative. Senior officers, including superintendents, were also named and shamed.

Normally, the GRA would be quick off the blocks with a strongly worded statement in defence of rank and file gardaí. But the stark reality is that it would be defending the indefensible.

Nonetheless, the public has an inalienable right to know whether gardaí will accept or resist the Morris recommendations for root and branch reforms.

Ultimately, the attitude of both the GRA and the AGSI, representing garda sergeants and inspectors, will determine the success or otherwise of Justice Minister Michael McDowell’s promised overhaul of discipline and management in the force. Whether the minister has the stomach to implement the Morris regime remains to be seen.

In something of a preemptive strike, both the GRA and the AGSI say they will fight legislation aimed at withdrawing from members the right to silence during internal disciplinary investigations. Astonishingly, they see it as an attack on their constitutional rights.

Meanwhile, shock-waves continue to reverberate from the Donegal debacle. In a revealing insight into the contrasting treatment of gardaí of different ranks, two uniformed members were summarily dismissed whereas three senior officers involved in the scandal have been given the easy way out, retiring on full pension.

Meanwhile, Mr McDowell’s belated announcement of a solemn State apology for the McBrearty family is to be welcomed. However, his attempt to spread blame for what went on in Donegal is contemptuous, transparent, opportunistic and demeaning.

By covering successive governments with a blanket apology for the way the family was framed by gardaí for offences they did not commit, he seeks to draw the Rainbow Coalition of the mid-’90s into this sordid affair. His claim that the scandal occurred on the coalition’s watch represents a tendentious bid to tar the administration of the day with a cynical brush.

In reality, by the time complaints had begun to seep from Donegal, the Rainbow government was on its way out. Beyond a shadow of doubt, it was the present administration, particularly ex-Justice Minister John O’Donoghue and Mr McDowell as former Attorney General, that stubbornly resisted calls for an independent probe into garda activities in Donegal.

Doubtless, Mr McDowell will also resist demands for his resignation. So, too, will Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy, despite his endorsement of the Carty inquiry, an internal garda whitewash that fully absolved the force of any wrongdoing.

Justice was done when it was rubbished by Judge Morris as “prejudiced, tendentious, and utterly negligent to the highest degree”.

An apology on behalf of the State is fully warranted. But it should be confined to the current Fianna Fáil-PD coalition.