McDowell accused of undermining DPP
The Centre for Public Inquiry (CPI) tonight accused Justice Minister Michael McDowell of undermining the authority and independence of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Mr McDowell used Dáil privilege to claim that CPI director Frank Connolly travelled to Colombia using a false passport and also passed on a copy of a bogus passport application to a newspaper.
The CPI, in its first public statement, said Mr McDowell’s claim that either it or Mr Connolly, could pose a threat to the security of the state was entirely without evidential basis, unsustainable, and totally untrue.
“The board of the CPI reiterates its full confidence in its Executive Director, Frank Connolly and his integrity,” said its chairman Fergus Flood.
Mr Flood, a former High Court Judge, said that Mr Connolly had been informed by the DPP in a letter yesterday that a decision had been taken on March 7, 2003 not to prosecute him in relation to the false passport allegations.
“This information would have been available to the Minister for Justice, his Department and the Garda authorities for up to two years and eight months yet Mr Connolly was only informed of the DPP’s decision in recent days.”
Mr Flood said Mr McDowell had unleashed a private and public blackening of Mr Connolly’s character.
“This shows a signal departure from principles of fair dealing and respect for justice to the individual citizen by the state which are absolute, save in the most exceptional cases and where legislated upon by the Oireachtas.
He added: “The methods adopted by the minister may well have undermined the status, authority and the statutory independence of the DPP.”
The Irish-American billionaire Chuck Feeney withdrew his funding for the CPI after holding a private meeting with Mr McDowell.
Mr Flood said a further statement concerning the relationship between Mr Feeney’s foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies, and CPI would be issued in due course.
