Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

This day has been a long time coming. From the first priority parliamentary question tabled to the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy O'Donoghue, by Deputy Jim Higgins on 5 May 1999 to today, more than six years of deep distress and unimaginable anguish for many individual citizens let down by the State have elapsed. More than that, their own State and its agent, the Garda Síochána grossly abused them.

The scale of the abuse of power outlined in the two Morris reports to date beggars belief. That it could have continued over such a period and involved so many individual gardaí of all ranks is both shocking and frightening. Much of the reaction of the House today will be to look forward, rather than back, to determine what we can do as the representative assembly of the people to ensure such abuse cannot happen again. I, too, want to address that critical issue but first, we, in Dáil Éireann, owe it to all those good and decent people of Donegal caught up in this horror story to listen carefully and respectfully to their story and ordeal.

Few will read the 667 pages of the second Morris report or remember the names of all the individuals and families involved, whose lives have been torn apart. A handful of the principals will be recalled — Frank McBrearty and perhaps his nephew Mark McConnell — while others, the extended McBrearty family, Michael and Charlotte Peoples, the Shortt and Gallagher families and all the others listed by my colleague, Deputy Costello, will quickly slip the mind. It cannot simply be a case of next business. Their story must now be listened to and this House, which for so long let them down, can do no less.

This matter is far from over. Not only are there many more modules of the tribunal to be heard but the victims believe that even the thorough job being done by Mr. Justice Frederick Morris — we owe him and his team a debt of gratitude — has left gaps. We must now listen to these victims. Let me cite just one case, that of the Gallaghers whose farm was raided by gardaí in March 1997. The search, which lasted five days, turned their world upside down. Mr. Justice Morris states in his report:

Mr. James 'Lofty' Gallagher is a highly respected person in the St. Johnstown locality. He and his family occupy a farmhouse and farm in that area. They have never been suspected of any association with subversives. They are decent people.

He comes to the conclusion "that the search of the Gallagher lands was yet another vehicle which was intended by Garda O'Dowd and Superintendent Lennon to enhance their reputation but which, in fact, went wrong." He also came to the conclusion that the evidence, in this instance, of William Doherty, was true. Mr. Doherty's evidence was that he was asked by Superintendent Lennon to plant explosives on the Gallagher lands so that they could be found.

In a statement this week Jim Gallagher stated:

Thank God this part wasn't successful as I would have no doubt been convicted of subversive activities on the word of the Garda. From my point of view, things have gotten no better. We got into the Morris tribunal by the skin of our teeth. I was the last on a "miscellaneous" list of witnesses in the first module. We believe that a fraction of the truth has been uncovered and we should have had a module in our own right. Judge Morris used some strong words to damn some of the gardaí involved and completely exonerated me and my family, but there are still so many questions to be answered. We have since discovered our phones were tapped. We have since heard that the Garda continued to believe that I was affiliated with the IRA.

We have commenced civil proceedings in order to get some answers, but our treatment by the Department of Justice has been appalling. They are deliberately wasting time and avoiding taking any responsibility. They forget who the real victims are in this case and it is a further slap in the face to be treated this way by the State.

The role in all of this of the Department and the current and former Ministers for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputies McDowell and O'Donoghue, has been shameful. The pathetic effort by the Minister to spread the blame last week adds insult to deep injury. The editorial in the Irish Examiner of 9 June under the heading, "McDowell bid to spread blame cynical", got it exactly right. It states: "his attempt to spread the blame for what went wrong in Donegal is contemptuous, transparent, opportunistic and demeaning." I believe the Irish people agree with that view.

The sworn evidence of the distinguished Secretary General of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to the tribunal was that it was not until the end of April 1999, a full two years after the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Government came into office, that "for the first time a detailed submission on the Donegal issue was made to senior management and the Minister." Does the Minister accept his Secretary General's evidence as true and accurate? The plain facts are that it was on the watch of the former Minister, Deputy O'Donoghue, while the current Minister, Mr. McDowell SC was Attorney General, that clear knowledge of wrongdoing in County Donegal became evident. Whatever doubts or confusion may have existed up to that point, once the then Minister, Deputy O'Donoghue, received the report of Assistant Commissioner Carty in July 2000, the Government had compelling and convincing knowledge of the scale of the abuse of power.

In this debate, I will deal with the Minister's comments, which I find shocking. He stated that neither he nor the then Minister, Deputy O'Donoghue, received the Carty report in July 2000. In that case, he told me untruths when I tabled the following parliamentary question on 7 February 2001:

Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the steps that have been taken since he received the report of a senior Garda official (details supplied) in July 2000 into allegations of corruption and malpractice involving members of the Garda Síochána in County Donegal; if he will bring the report before the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights; if he will establish a sworn inquiry into the allegations; the steps he will take to re-establish public confidence in the Garda in the area having regard to the serious public concern at the allegations; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

He went on to answer the question, saying: "The Deputy asked what steps had been taken since I received the report of a senior Garda into allegations of corruption and malpractice involving members of the Garda", but he did not tell me he did not get it. In fact, he said, "The Deputy asked if I will bring the report before the Oireachtas committee . . . I want to see the truth determined." In further supplementaries I remarked, "The Carty report was with the Garda Commissioner for a number of days before being sent to the Minister and to the DPP, who received it on the same day." He did not say that was not a fact. He led me to believe right through the questioning that day that he had the Carty report.

The Minister and his colleagues came into the Dáil when this side of the House tabled a motion to establish an independent inquiry on 20 November 2001. That was voted down by the Minister on the advice of the Attorney General. He said:

I sought the advice of the Attorney General as to what options are open to me . . . The Attorney General's advice in particular pointed out the serious difficulties that would arise when civil and criminal proceedings are still pending.

Not once did he say the real analysis of this by an Assistant Commissioner was unknown to him. How could he respond to a motion from this side of the House in ignorance? It is just unbelievable.

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