Trampling on a citizen’s rights
It was facilitated with the cosy co-operation of a newspaper whose editorial freedom has been highly questionable and whose views are particularly favourable to certain vested interests, mainly those residing in the higher economic echelons of Irish society.
This senior Government minister has leaked unproven allegations against a former Irish journalist and citizen without any legal due process.
Mr McDowell has stated that the DPP will not be prosecuting Mr Connolly in relation to the allegation of obtaining a false passport.
In addition, there is no proof - only an allegation - that Mr Connolly travelled on a false passport to Columbia, a claim which he has strenuously denied.
For a senior counsel and former attorney general to ignore the legal process, probably based on his own knowledge that there wasn’t even enough evidence to raise a prosecution, supported by the fact that he says the DPP won’t be prosecuting, is an unbelievable trampling of Mr Connolly’s legal rights as a citizen.
On RTÉ’s Six One news on Monday last, Dermot Walsh, Professor of Law at University of Limerick, described Mr McDowell’s actions as ‘driving a coach and four’ through established legal procedures.
I have no doubt that if a justice minister in an alternative government perpetrated such a blatant and disgraceful infringement, Mr McDowell, wearing both his political and legal hats, would be calling immediately for that minister’s resignation.
It seems evident to me that cronyism is also part of this equation.
The Independent Newspapers’ Group, in recent times, have pulled stories critical of Irish Ferries. Their objectivity and journalistic integrity was previously badly damaged with their publication of an unchecked story regarding the death of Liam Lawlor.
There is a strong belief that the editorial functions of their national newspapers are heavily influenced by the ideological persuasion of the owner, Dr Tony O’Reilly.
Preference is higher than fairness in their pecking order. Given that Mr Mc Dowell’s ideological orientation, and that of this party, dovetails significantly with that of Independent Newspapers, and given that fairness and due process are not high on their agenda in the first instance, it is no surprise that the minister would ‘leak’ this story to that paper. This is obviously cosy and smells of cronyism.
When the biggest media group in Ireland and the Minister for Justice are swapping stories regarding the plight of an Irish citizen and the organisation he represents, without fair procedure, it is very worrying.
The fact that the board of the Centre for Public Inquiry, including Mr Justice Feargus Flood, have had their work scuppered on this altar is abhorrent.
It is also worrying that the livelihood of a journalist who broke stories that led to the Flood Tribunal and the unearthing of such corruption in Irish political life can now be damaged so easily and by such a dubious orchestrated effort in which the Minister of Justice and a newspaper with a damaged reputation have both colluded.
Tom O’Connor
Lecturer in Public Policy and Social Care
Cork Institute of Technology
Bishopstown
Cork
