Garda allegations sources must be named, judge rules
Two politicians were today told by a High Court judge to identify their sources for serious allegations against the Garda Siochana.
The ruling was made by the former High Court president, Frederick Morris, who is chairing a tribunal of investigation into alleged corruption by a number of officers in Co Donegal.
The politicians at the centre of today’s judgment, Fine Gael's Jim Higgins and Labour’s Brendan Howlin were both one time justice spokesmen in the Dáil.
The pair are said to have been approached by past or present members of the force in 2000 and later relayed the allegations made to them to the then Justice Minister, John O’Donoghue.
Last week they told the tribunal in Dublin that they had the right enshrined in the written Constitution to refuse to name the people who gave them information.
Officers named in the allegations include Assistant Garda Commissioners, Kevin Carty and Tony Hickey.
The tribunal, which opened in Donegal last year is due to begin hearing detailed allegations made by a number of witnesses next week. Its proceedings were delayed earlier this year because of the challenge on the privileged information issue.
The inquiry was established by the Dáil under the terms of a resolution agreed almost two years ago to investigate the allegations which centre on claims about police inquiries into a number of cases, including terrorist bomb finds, arson and a series of arrests as well as the police treatment of the McBrearty family of Co Donegal.
The Dáil Committee on Procedures and privileges was represented at last week’s hearing of the case.
Both Mr Higgins, now a member of the Senate, the upper house of the Parliament and Mr Howlin, who is still in the Dail, the lower house were instructed by the tribunal last year to name their sources and also to hand over telephone and fax records of contacts they had.
Some of the information related to an internal investigation into the Co Donegal garda activities, specifically about a potentially compromising relationship between two senior officers involved and a junior officer who has been accused of planting stolen property.
The formal inquiry is probing all aspects of the allegations, including their timing and the motivation for their emergence.
The tribunal insisted on being provided with the names of the informants so that investigations into the affair could be followed up.
But Mr Higgins and Mr Howlin have consistently maintained that they will not reveal the identities of the people who approached them.
In the earlier hearing counsel for the tribunal, Paul McDermott said that although the Constitution incorporated enabling powers to protect the private papers of politicians, legislation to that effect had not been enacted.
Gerard Hogan, for Mr Higgins, said that both his client and Mr Howlin had behaved impeccably in the matter.
If Mr Higgins had read out the relevant information in the Dáil he would have had automatic constitutional protection and it was not for the tribunal to investigate whether or not the two politicians had been duped by their sources who themselves had a right to expect they were entitled to privacy.
But Mr Justice Morris said that while the power to protect the papers existed, it had not been exercised.
Neither Mr Higgins or Mr Howlin were at the tribunal to hear today’s ruling and there was no immediate response from them.
But lawyers for both men indicated that they were to take the case to the High Court for a judicial review of the judgment and the judge imposed a four week stay on his decision.
The two politicians indicated earlier that they saw the issue as one of democratic principle.
In his 23 page judgment, Mr Justice Morris also ordered eircom to produce documents relating to telephone calls made to the politicians.
