Ahern says Government had no role in McCabe trial plea change

With sentences due to be delivered at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin this morning, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has said that the Government had "no involvement whatsoever" in the decision to accept manslaughter pleas in the Det Garda Jerry McCabe murder trial.

He was responding to mounting Opposition demands for an explanation of the reasons for changing the charges from capital murder to manslaughter yesterday. The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, will be asked to explain to the Dail today the circumstances surrounding the State's decision to accept a manslaughter charge.

Fine Gael has tabled a special notice question for this afternoon, after the men are expected to be sentenced.

The Taoiseach told journalists at Government Buildings that he could understand that the public would have liked to have seen the murder charge "dealt with". He thought that was the way it was going to go.

"I had no knowledge that anything else was going to happen but the Director of Public Prosecutions obviously made a decision based on what he thought was the best thing to do," Mr Ahern said.

The Taoiseach also said the DPP was totally independent and made that decision "totally under his own domain with no discussion or consultation whatsoever". He was informed by the Attorney General, whose office was informed by the DPP as a courtesy.

Asked to clarify that the convicted men would not benefit from early releases or an amnesty under the Belfast Agreement, Mr Ahern responded: "I have made our position absolutely clear on that from day one and we will not be changing it, now or never."

Replying to remarks by Opposition spokespersons, Mr O'Donoghue said he had no function in relation to the prosecution of offences. These were matters reserved in law for the DPP, who was independent of the minister in the exercise of his functions.

"Neither does the Minister have any involvement in deciding who participates in the witness protection programme. Decisions of this nature are a matter for the Garda authorities," a statement from Mr O'Donoghue's office said.

Fine Gael's Justice spokesman, Mr Jim Higgins, and former justice minister, Mrs Nora Owen, said the decision was "incomprehensible and highly regrettable". In a joint statement, they called on Mr O'Donoghue to explain why the State witness protection scheme was not used to secure full convictions for capital murder. "Mr Ahern must also assure the country that in spite of this and other recent violent acts, which would appear to be violations of the ceasefire, that in fact the ceasefire still holds," they said.

The Labour Party justice spokeswoman, Ms Jan O'Sullivan, said the public would find it difficult to reconcile the acceptance by the State of a plea to charges of manslaughter with the graphic account given by Det Garda Ben O'Sullivan of the details of Det Garda McCabe's violent death.

"What took place at Adare was murder, not manslaughter," she added.

The former leader of the Progressive Democrats, Mr Des O'Malley, said the implications of yesterday's decision for the institutions of the State were huge.

"I think the gardai should be supported and protected fully in these kind of circumstances," he continued. "To describe what happened in Adare as anything less than murder is a travesty of the truth."