Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

This case was unique in that a body charged with upholding ethical values in the Irish political system under its own constitution chose as its chief executive a person who had been publicly described as far back as 2002 as having visited Colombia under a false name in a visit prior to that of the Colombia three. Mr. Justice Flood is on record today as saying that he only knew Mr. Connolly for one year and knew only that he had been a journalist. These were unique circumstances. Mr. Connolly's activities in Colombia and the fact that the enterprise was designed to bring back funds to Ireland to pervert the democratic process posed a threat to this country. I discussed the matter with my colleagues in Government and undertook to raise the matter with Mr. Feeney with a view to persuading him to discontinue his support for Mr. Connolly in his role as chief executive of the Centre for Public Inquiry.

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