Dublin Mayor issues apology over McDowell remarks

Dublin's Fianna Fáil Lord Mayor, Mr Royston Brady, has issued a public apology for remarks he made about the Minister for Justice, Mr Michael McDowell.

In an interview with

The Star

newspaper this morning, Mr Brady, described the Minister as an arrogant bully and accused him of showing contempt for the people of Dublin.

Mr Brady, who took up office in July, said Mr Dowell had effectively "given all of Dublin the two fingers" by refusing to meet him to discuss the increasing levels of street crime in the capital.

But this evening Mr Brady said he made the remarks "out of frustration" at trying to deal with concerns raised by his constituents about crime in Dublin.

He said:" I have now been informed that there was never any question of the Minister refusing to meet me as Lord Mayor".

"That being the case, if I caused the Minister any offence, I apologise unreservedly for any offending remarks I made in interviews, which I accept now were not appropriate give the circumstances," he added.

In the interview with the newspaper, Mr Brady said he wrote to the Minister requesting a meeting and after waiting for more than three weeks he received a terse two-line reply which did not even acknowledge the request.

"I was shocked firstly that the reply was so late but when I opened the letter, let's just say I was quite taken aback and offended," the Mayor said.

"The two-line letter does not even acknowledge my request for a meeting and the really annoying part is that the letter I wrote to him was on behalf of the people of Dublin so it is effectively two fingers up to them and me," he said.

Mr Brady, who has been described as a confidant of the Taoiseach's, said he had serious doubts about the capability of the Minister given his record over the past 19 months.

He criticised Mr McDowell's decision to change the pub opening hours, saying he failed to see how the move will tackle any of our problems.

The Lord Mayor said Mr McDowell comes across as "extremely arrogant" and often uses "bully-boy tactics".

He said: "I am offering now to meet with the Justice Minister and bring him out on our city streets over a weekend, because at the moment he doesn't seem to be in touch with reality and that is not good enough."