Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

In addressing the issues arising from the Morris tribunal report and in referring to earlier reports, the Minister made the centrepiece of his presentation an attack on my colleague, Mr. Jim Higgins, MEP, who was formerly a Member of this House and was not here to answer for himself, and on Deputy Howlin, who is well able to speak for himself but who deserves also to be defended. It was Mr. Higgins and Deputy Howlin who, for a period of five years, sought to bring about a public inquiry into the events taking place in Donegal. It was they who brought information before this House and to the attention of successive Ministers for Justice, Equality and Law Reform on the basis that these were matters of grave public concern into which inquiries should be made and which were ignored for far too long.

I was the Fine Gael spokesperson on justice in the 12-month period leading in to the formation of the Morris tribunal. I became privy to all the information of which Mr. Higgins and Deputy Howlin were aware and formed my own view that there was a need for a public inquiry. On 23 May 2001, in a parliamentary question to the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy O'Donoghue, I asked whether he accepted, in the public interest, that a public inquiry should be conducted into the alleged events in Donegal. I emphasised on that occasion the importance of such an inquiry both in the interest of the many fine members of the Garda Síochána who wished to see the allegations addressed and in the public interest in order to restore confidence in the force. I said at the time that these matters should not have been left festering. On that occasion, the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform kicked essentially to touch. I then made the point in this House that a banana republic would not deal with an issue as serious as this in such a manner.

Fianna Fáil was in government for most of the period during which events took place in Donegal that gave rise to concerns that had to be considered by the Morris tribunal. It was Fianna Fáil who in government took five years to reach the conclusion that a public inquiry was necessary. On 20 November 2001, I tabled a motion in the House regarding the holding of the required public inquiry. I was supported in that motion through the contributions of former Deputy Jim Higgins, who had a different portfolio in the Fine Gael Party, and by Deputy Brendan Howlin. We made the case in respect of why an inquiry was required and why issues should not be left unattended to. The response we got from the then Minister was that he was going to appoint an eminent lawyer to examine all the relevant papers and the progress of various investigations into the allegations made. It took from 1998 to November 2001 for the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to take these steps.

In March 2002, the Morris tribunal was established. Had these matters not been raised in this House and responsibly in discussions quietly held with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform by former Deputy Jim Higgins and Deputy Howlin, there would have been no Morris tribunal inquiry. Without the motion that I brought before this House, which was supported by the Fine Gael and Labour Parties, no eminent lawyer would have been employed to consider the papers then in existence. It is true that if this had not happened the Morris tribunal would not have been established. Also, the initial draft terms of reference for the Morris tribunal, produced by the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy John O'Donoghue, were the subject of discussions between the Minister, myself and Deputy Howlin and without those discussions the terms of reference, as ultimately adopted by this House, would have been deficient and issues that required investigation and on which important findings have been made would never have been addressed.

This House and the State owes a debate of gratitude to former Deputy Jim Higgins and Deputy Howlin for the work they did on this issue. A whole succession of Morris tribunal reports have resulted in revelations of improper Garda conduct that should never have occurred, of individuals being wrongly targeted and persecuted and of individuals' lives being destroyed. The conduct of a small number of gardaí in Donegal affected the morale of the vast majority of the force who do their duty by this State and on occasion put their lives at risk in the interests of the public. If there is a criticism of a political nature to be made, that criticism is that the Morris tribunal inquiry, only initiated in March 2002, should in fact have been initiated three years earlier.

It is farcical for, of all people, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Dermot Ahern, to come into this House and launch a political attack on the people who primarily put pressure on the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Government to hold such an inquiry. The Minister attempted, in a moment of artifice, to suggest that the €50 million incurred by way of public expense in respect of the Morris tribunal derived from one particular issue raised by former Deputy Jim Higgins and Deputy Howlin, on which the Morris tribunal determined there was not a cause of complaint. However, complaints on all other issues were upheld.

This is the Minister who was appointed to check out the corrupt activities of former Minister and Deputy Ray Burke of Fianna Fáil and who, by way of his own investigation, looked up every tree in north Dublin and reported to the then Taoiseach that there were no issues about which he should be concerned, a former Minister and Deputy attached to the Fianna Fáil Party who has been disgraced as a consequence of taking money in circumstances where no Minister should have been taking money or have succumbed to temptation.

If there is a complaint to be made in this House about taxpayers' money being wasted in tribunals, it derives from the manner in which members of the Fianna Fáil Party going back to the late Taoiseach, Mr. Haughey, the late former Deputy Liam Lawlor and former Minister and Deputy Ray Burke and others have tried to lead another tribunal a merry dance to avoid making appropriate disclosures and have regularly litigated in a manner that delayed that tribunal doing its work and completing reports.

I would much prefer to deal in this debate with the specifics of the Morris tribunal reports. It was some of the earlier reports produced by Mr. Justice Morris that forced the Government to recognise the inadequacies of the Garda Complaints Board, a body long known to be incapable of fulfilling its statutory functions, as stated by Mr. Justice Morris. It was as a result of these reports that we now have a Garda Ombudsman and new statutory provisions dealing with disciplinary issues in the interests of gardaí and the public with regard to the Garda Síochána.

The role of the Minister for Justice Equality and Law Reform today was to apologise to the public for the manner in which a small number of gardaí behaved in Donegal. Instead, he sought to deflect public attention from the shambles and incompetence of the Government by launching an unwarranted attack on a former Member of this House who could not answer for himself and on a current Member. The Minister should at least have had the humility to acknowledge that he, as part of a Fianna Fáil Government, delayed this inquiry and contributed personally to the damage done to the reputation of the Garda Síochána, to the public perception of that force and to the difficulties that continue to be experienced by individuals to whom this State has already had to pay compensation and to some of whom compensation payments remain to be made.

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