A District Judge has accused the Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen and a Tipperary South Fine Gael TD of engaging in one of the most serious attacks on the constitution of the courts he had ever seen.
Judge Michael Patwell said he viewed letters written by the Minister and by Deputy Theresa Ahearn that appeared on Garda files as an implied threat to gardai to back off from arresting a man for whom the court had issued arrest warrants in November 1993.
Judge Patwell, in Cahir District Court, said it was a serious attack by the Government on the authority of judges and he was tempted to report the matter to the Chief Justice. The gardai in this case, he said, were not to blame. No superintendent with any sense would go against the letter of the Minister.
Judge Patwell insisted that the Government could not change his order. A High Court judgment in June 1996 stated a warrant was a command from the court to bring a named person before the court. It was not a document which merely vested a discretion in the gardai to apprehend a person named in it.
At yesterday's court, Insp Jim Fitzgerald applied to have two warrants against John O'Meara, of St Finnian's Avenue, Ardfinnan, Tipperary renewed. He told the court the warrants were out of date, as the defendant had appealed a conviction, had unsuccessfully petitioned the Minister for Justice in 1994 and had repetitioned the Minister, Mrs, Owen.
In July 1992, O'Meara was given a three month and a five month sentence to run concurrently on charges of dangerous driving and no insurance.
Both sentences were appealed to the Circuit Court. The Circuit Court affirmed the order of the District Court. As a result warrants were issued on November 26th, 1993.
Judge Patwell said he wanted to expose who told the gardai not to execute the warrants. He said Garda files contained a letter written by the Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, to Mr Theresa Ahearn TD, dated April 10th, 1995, in connection with the O'Meara case.
The Minister's letter read: "I am having further inquiries made in this matter and I will be in touch with you again in the near future. This acknowledgment may be produced to the gardai as confirmation that the above sentence is under repetition".
Judge Pal well said the gardai were presented with a copy of the Minister's letter as well as a letter from the TD. The judge said a previous Minister had stated she was unable to find grounds to modify the sentence and said there was no reason to interfere. Then another Minister wrote a letter which effectively put a stay on the warrant.
Judge Patwell told gardai that he would renew the warrants in relation to O'Meara on condition they would be executed on or before January 31st. If the gardai had any other warrants lying around under the same circumstances, he would give them one week to execute them.