Category: Morris Tribunal

McDowell has now claimed that there is nothing new in the secret report that has surfaced, covered in a front page Irish Times story

In the Dail last week, Mr McDowell said it did not finally become clear to the government that a tribunal had to be set up until January 2002, following a review of the full text of the Carty report by barrister Shane Murphy SC.

However, the 37-page summary sent by Mr Conroy 18 months earlier acknowledged that Mr Carty had found serious evidence that significant numbers of gardaa­ had behaved improperly.

Dealing with the investigation into Richie Barron’s death in Raphoe in 1996, Commissioner Conroy said the Carty report had highlighted the inadequate investigation into his death and detailed “incidents where false information and testimony” were tendered to cast suspicion on the McBrearty family and others.

Summarising the report, Mr Conroy said it was “an extraordinary coincidence” that Bernard Conlon had been able falsely to allege that Mark McConnell had threatened him “without some assistance from somebody with a knowledge of the Barron investigation”.

The conduct of two gardaa­, Sgt John White and Garda John O’Dowd, “gave grave cause for concern”, wrote Mr Conroy, while some of the prosecutions taken by them “were devoid of the discretion and balance that might be reasonably expected by any citizen of this State”, he told Mr O’Donoghue.

“On the balance of probabilities and accumulated circumstances there is reason to believe that both members engaged in an abuse of process,” Mr Conroy wrote.

Green Party TD Ciaran Cuffe last night said the Conroy summary proved the government had had enough information to set up a public inquiry in 2000, but that it had deliberately chosen not to do so.

For the record I do not believe McDowell or O’Donoghue. I believe they delayed the establishment of the tribunal by up to two years.

If you don’t know anything about what happened in Donegal, this is small example of the kind of thing the Gardai were up to. And this is a very very small example. There were much more serious goings on than this.

A man from Sligo said yesterday that he received payment from a detective sergeant for getting caught drinking on a premises owned by the McBreartys.

Key witness Bernard Conlon (49), said he testified against the McBreartys after being asked by Det Sgt John White to get caught in Frankie’s Nightclub in Raphoe.

The tribunal is inquiring into an allegation that Det Sgt White set up the McBreartys by asking Mr Conlon to get caught after hours and be a State witness.

It is alleged that a Detective Sargeant perverted the course of justice, bribing a citizen in order to prosecute another citizen, during a vendetta by the Gardai against the McBrearty family. This is actually small fry at the Morris Tribunal, why are Irish people not getting worked up about this?

And how much does it cost to bribe someone to stay late?

Det Sgt White then visited him at home in Sligo. “He said to me I’ve done a good job and he gave me some money as far as I recall in a brown envelope from his back pocket. As far as I remember it was £200,” he said. He made a statement in Sligo station. Later, he received a summons to appear at Letterkenny Court as a witness.

Latest from the Tribunal:

A witness for the prosecution in a case against the McBreartys under the licensing laws went back to the Garda station canteen in Letterkenny with senior officers, a Garda sergeant said yesterday.

Garda Sgt Sarah Hargadon said Bernard Conlon came back to the canteen and it was unusual for a civilian to be there.

One of the allegations being looked into by the tribunal is one made by Mr Conlon that he was asked by Det Sgt John White if he was willing to be caught on the premises of a night-club owned by the McBreartys in Raphoe after hours and become a State witness against Frank McBrearty snr.

Besides the core of this story, McDowell said something very curious in the Dail recently.

But Mr McDowell said a doctrine existed at the time that it was for ‘senior gardaa­ in consultation with the DPP to decideâ€? what he and the then Justice Minister, John O’Donoghue, could see in respect of the Donegal investigations.

Mr McDowell said this doctrine was based on the ‘profoundly legally mistakenâ€? belief that the Garda Sa­ochana was ‘in privityâ€? with the DPP – meaning they kept between themselves matters of such importance.

The Gardai in privity with the DPP? What? How long has this been going on?

When the DPP was established in 1974 by Professor John Kelly it was said that was on of its primary aims was:

…to ensure, as will be generally agreed to be desirable, that our system for the prosecution of offences should not only be impartial but should be seen to be so, and that it should not only be free from outside influence but should be manifestly so.

In 1999 the then Minister for Justice, O’Donoghue said:

I have respected and will continue to respect the separate role of the Garda Sa­ochana in the investigation of crime and of the DPP in prosecuting crime.

But all this time they were working together? Is this only news to me?

The full, and indeed fascinating debate from Friday’s session (the session that is not broadcast on Oireachtas Report) can be read here, with a lengthy explanation from McDowell. The full quote reads:

Unfortunately, it was the case at the time, doubtless in good faith, that there was a doctrine that the Garda Sa­ochana was in privity with the Director of Public Prosecutions and that it was open to senior gardaa­ in consultation with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to decide what the then Minister, Deputy O’Donoghue and myself could see in respect of the investigations being carried out in Donegal.

As I pointed out later, that view was profoundly legally mistaken.

The debate continues with some clarifications and background, and harsh exchanges with Brendan Howlin who said that

There are people who have suffered, who continued to suffer and who still feel we are exposing the truth like an onion, layer by layer. They feel there is now a rush to say there is an awfulness ‘out thereâ€? and we will close that chapter and move on. That will not wash now. It will not wash to have partial solutions railroaded through this House next week. This House watched with horror miscarriages of justice elsewhere in the world. We have our own scandal here and now, our Birmingham Six and Guilford Four and much more. Few issues matter more to the well-being of our citizens than good policing. For once, let this House be strong enough to do all that is required.

The former Justice Minister, John O’Donoghue has denied he obstructed the setting up of an inquiry into the events in Donegal:

Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O’Donoghue rejected claims he obstructed the setting up of the Morris tribunal when he held the justice portfolio.

“I was never against the principle of a public inquiry, but clearly establishing a tribunal of inquiry was not something to be undertaken lightly. As far back as February 2001, I made it clear to Dail a‰ireann that I had an open mind as regards the setting up of a tribunal.”

McDowell has been going on again about this apology that the State is going to make to the families in Donegal affected by Garda corruption.

Michael McDowell said yesterday the McBrearty family would be getting an apology from the State. The first thing they had to do was to allow the Morris tribunal to run its course so that the full number of things in respect of which an apology was due would be known by the public.

“I think it’s very, very clear from the attitude that I’ve adopted that I fully acknowledge that what was done to them was evil and wrong and that they are due an apology,” he said.

Asked if the Barrons would be getting an apology also, he replied: “The Barrons, the Gallaghers, the Peoples, the McConnells and many other people who were damaged and injured by the procedure.”

Meanwhile the impending legal action against the State will continue and the family of the late Richie Barron are not just demanding an apology:

The family including Mr Barron’s widow, Nora, their children and other members, have served legal papers. They are claiming negligence and dereliction of duty by the Minister for Justice, the Garda Commissioner, the Attorney General and the State, in failing to ensure a proper investigation into Mr Barron’s death in 1996 in Raphoe, Co Donegal.

They will seek compensation for trauma and suffering caused to them by grief and anxiety since he died.

“It is not about the money,” Mr Dorrian [Solicitor] added. “It is about the appalling treatment meted out to that family. Nobody paid the slightest attention or interest. They have been sidelined and their dignity has been eroded. They are entitled to the same consideration as any other family concerned in this horrible mess.”

The family of Richard Barron have begun legal action against the State:

Along with their High Court proceedings, the Barrons are demanding an apology from Justice Minister Michael McDowell and Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy for the way Mr Barron’s death was handled and his family’s treatment in the years that followed.

They also want a definitive ruling on the cause of Mr Barron’s death and say they are prepared to call for another inquest and assemble a fresh set of forensics experts if it will help them get to the truth.

The first protracted inquest into Mr Barron’s death two years ago reached an open verdict after finding the evidence inconclusive as to whether he was the victim of a hit-and-run, assault or murder but the second Morris Report, published earlier this month, concludes there was no murder and that a hit-and-run accident was to blame.

11 months after the first Morris Tribunal report, the Dail are finally discussing its implications. And still:

…opposition politicians claimed the Government was merely going through the motions as deputies would be confined to reading statements and no debate would be allowed or questions asked.

Labour will seek to have the Morris reports referred to the Oireachtas Justice Committee so that the commissioner, former ministers and justice officials can be invited for questioning. Fine Gael will ask that the passing of the new garda bill on reorganisation of the force be deferred until Justice Morris’s recommendations can be incorporated into it.

The Examiner also pose some questions:

Why has it taken 11 months for the Dail to discuss the tribunal reports?

Why are gardai criticised in the reports allowed retire without facing disciplinary proceedings?

How long before Justice Morris’s recommendations are implemented?

Why won’t tribunal terms of reference be widened to examine the role of current/former ministers, attorneys general, garda commissioners and DPPs?

Why can’t McBreartys have tribunal legal fees guaranteed like gardaa­?

Why was Frank McBrearty Jnr’s action against the State fought before settlement plans were suggested?

What will the Government do about the other 40 similar actions pending?

Why have the family of Richie Barron received no formal apology?

When was Richie Barron’s death reclassified as a hit-and-run, on whose instructions and on what basis?

Who killed Richie Barron and what efforts are being made to prosecute the person responsible?

I tend to agree with McBrearty on this one, I can see his logic:

Frank McBrearty jnr told The Irish Times his family’s legal representatives had worked on the tribunal for almost two years before the family withdrew from the proceedings in May 2004.

“They haven’t been paid a penny yet for that work and it may be another two years before they see any of the money depending on what challenges might be made [to their application for payment].” He said the tribunal would need to address a number of matters before his family would consider returning.

“We would have to be guaranteed all of our costs, just like the Garda Commissioner and the Minister for Justice. The terms of reference would also need to be widened to include the role of the State, the Attorney General, the commissioner, the Minister and the Department of Justice in what happened to us”.