O'Donoghue 'did not stifle debate'

FORMER MINISTER for justice John O’Donoghue has rejected suggestions that he attempted to stifle Dáil debate and “put people off” discussing reports of an IRA informer in Dundalk Garda station.

Mr O’Donoghue told the Smithwick Tribunal yesterday that a Garda investigation had concluded there was “no tangible evidence” into the allegations about informers in Dundalk and this had been borne out by Garda and RUC investigations.

Mr O’Donoghue said claims in the Dáil by then Fine Gael TD Jim Higgins, that the “dogs in the street” knew the names of two IRA informers in the Garda, were made “for political advantage”.

He acknowledged that Mr Higgins had offered to give him the names of the two alleged informers and that he had subsequently not asked Mr Higgins for them. He said he was “not sure” he believed Mr Higgins and was not surprised to learn that gardaí who subsequently carried out a review of the evidence had also not asked Mr Higgins for the names.

The Garda review of the evidence ultimately found – in line with the initial investigation – that there was no evidence to support allegations of collusion between gardaí in Dundalk and the IRA, he said.

As the review contained confidential information, Mr O’Donoghue said he could not publish it, but he had put a precis in the public domain.

However, Mr O’Donoghue clashed with counsel for the tribunal, Justin Dillon SC, over what amounted to a precis. Lifting a bulky lever arch file, Mr Dillon said it was the review and asked if a single sentence could be a precis.

“Surely a precis is something longer than a half dozen words,” he said. He suggested that Mr O’Donoghue’s precis had been a “precis designed to put people off”. Mr Dillon put it to Mr O’Donoghue that the process was one “of stifling debate”.

However, Mr O’Donoghue said he had been “minister for justice, not the investigating authority”.

Mr O’Donoghue said he had done all that could have been expected of him.

“I don’t say that from a sanctimonious perspective. I am not perfect, but in that situation I was the nearest I could get . . . I did my duty. I did what was asked of me. No more could be expected of me and no less.”

Mr O’Donoghue also clashed with Mr Dillon over the implications of the expression “no tangible evidence”, which had been used in reply to Mr Higgins’s Dáil questions.

Mr O’Donoghue said the expression was lifted directly from a Garda letter to the Department of Justice.