Coalition failed to tackle scandal

MICHAEL McDOWELL’S reported comments on the second report of the Morris tribunal are truly nauseating.

The Dáil records clearly document the difficulties experienced by opposition Justice spokespeople in the 1998-2001 period in getting the former FF/PD government publicly to acknowledge and confront the extent of the problems which had surfaced in Donegal.

The then Minister for Justice, John O’Donoghue, strenuously and repetitively resisted FG and Labour calls for a tribunal of inquiry and, from 1999 until 2002, contemptuously dismissed Dáil questions raised about events now well documented by Morris.