McDowell ‘opposed inquiry tooth and nail’

Paul O’Brien

“When efforts were made in this house to establish the tribunal now known as the Morris Tribunal, Deputy McDowell opposed it tooth and nail,” Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said in the Dáil.

“The minister for the media took full credit (on Wednesday) for Mr Justice Morris’s report, even though he opposed the establishment of the tribunal.”

The Government decided to set up the tribunal in 2002, but had initially resisted such a move. One of the factors for this reluctance was advice from Mr McDowell, then Attorney General, that a tribunal could prejudice civil and criminal proceedings arising from the events in Donegal.

Mr Rabbitte said Mr McDowell and then justice minister John O’Donoghue should have known a tribunal was imperative.

The legal representatives of the McBrearty family had made clear to him and to the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy O’Donoghue, what was going on in Co Donegal.”

Green Party chairman John Gormley claimed Mr McDowell had “tried to stall” Frank McBrearty Jnr’s quest for justice for as long as he could.

“The minister has been dragged kicking and screaming to the altar of justice by Mr McBrearty and others.”

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said there was an onus on both Mr McDowell and Mr O’Donoghue to explain why they had opposed the establishment of the tribunal.

The opposition also criticised the failure of the Government to arrange for a debate on the tribunal’s first report, which was published almost a year ago.

Speaking on behalf of Mr McDowell, who was not in the Dáil, Finance Minister Brian Cowen said both he and the Government took “the most serious view” of the tribunal’s second report, and that both it and the first one “should be urgently discussed in both this House and the Seanad”.

“Let me be clear: the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Government accept the findings of the report and will act on them.”

He said the Garda Síochána Bill, which is before the Dáil, would lead to “substantial reform”, as it provides for the establishment of a garda ombudsman commission to independently investigate complaints against officers.

“It also establishes a Garda Síochána inspectorate to examine and report on the effectiveness and efficiency of the force on an ongoing basis,” Mr Cowen said. This inspectorate would report to the Department of Justice.

However, Labour and the Green Party said these proposals did not go far enough. Mr Rabbitte said a garda authority was needed which would be separate from the department “to set a plan for policing, monitor standards and have a supervisory function”.

“Nothing in the new Garda Síochána Bill will address the core issue, which is that unaccountable power is a very dangerous thing,” he said.

Mr Gormley said the ombudsman commission would not have sufficient powers, and instead needed to be run “along the lines” of the office of Nuala O’Loan, the police ombudsman for Northern Ireland.