Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

Furthermore, Deputy Higgins stood in this House on the day that the resolution was passed and stated he would have no hesitation in appearing before the tribunal and telling all that he knew. However, he only revealed the existence of this second document to the tribunal some ten months later, more than three years after he first received it. Crucially, the document, in its own terms, exonerated Assistant Commissioner Carty to a significant degree from the false allegations made against him in the information referred to in the terms of reference. The information should never have been withheld. Mr. Justice Morris was satisfied that the significance of the relevant fax of 15 July must have been clear to Deputy Higgins and the tribunal concluded that his stated reasons for not passing it on were "somewhat disingenuous".

It has been suggested in some quarters that Mr. Justice Morris recommended that the Deputies carry out their own investigation. This is a gross misrepresentation of his comments. It is difficult to completely avoid the suspicion that this is a deliberate overstatement of what the Morris tribunal stated so as to leave its conclusion more open to counter argument. Mr. Justice Morris recommended that the Deputies should have carried out some further inquiries before bringing them to the Minister. He made this recommendation due to the fact the sources were confidential——

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