Niall Collins (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)

Mr. Justice Morris made it clear that they should not have pursued their actions unless more detailed information and evidence was produced, in fairness to those who were the subject of the allegations. He stated:

At the very least, Deputy Higgins should have insisted on a meeting with Mr. Togher and Deputy Howlin should have pressed Mr. Martin Giblin S.C. for further detail and evidence. [. . .] It would have been entirely reasonable for the two Teachtaí Dála to say that they were not going to make allegations of such a wild kind about two assistant commissioners and a detective sergeant to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and put them under a cloud, without something more than a facsimile or a late night phone call.

The motivation and the modus operandi of the two Members were severely criticized by Mr. Justice Morris and he made clear what should have been obvious when he said "Confidentiality can of course be abused by those who seek to use their political representatives for their own purposes". He went on to say that the two Deputies should have carried out some further inquiries before going to the Minister. He said "particularly when it was contemplated that these communications had taken place in confidence and that neither the Minister nor any investigators of these matters would be allowed access to the source of the allegations because of the assertion of a parliamentary privilege".

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