Oireachtas committee may probe Morris report
An Oireachtas Committee could probe the latest report of the Morris Tribunal due to be published next week, it emerged today.
Finance Minister Brian Cowen ruled out a Dáil debate on the issue today but said the Justice, Equality & Law Reform Committee could have a role on examining it.
Deputising for the Taoiseach during the Order of Business, Mr Cowen said of the report: “That is something to be considered by the relevant committee, I presume, if they can find the time to debate it.”
Labour Party justice spokesman Joe Costello earlier raised the issue and said the Morris Tribunal had never been debated in the Oireachtas despite the seriousness of the issues involved.
It also emerged today that Frank McBrearty Jnr, whose family is at the centre of the inquiry, has been invited by the Labour Party to address its annual conference in Tralee at the weekend.
Members of the McBrearty family are currently in Brussels seeking European Parliament backing to force the state to guarantee their legal costs at the tribunal.
Judge Frederick Morris’s second interim report into the mysterious hit-and-run death of Donegal cattle dealer Richie Barron in 1996 was given to Justice Minister Michael McDowell on Tuesday.
The document covers the second module of the garda corruption inquiry into how officers in Co Donegal probed the unsolved death in the 1990s.
It also deals with extortion phone calls to local family, Michael and Charlotte Peoples.
Justice Committee chairman Sean Ardagh today said he would be in favour of allowing the report before his members but insisted that the rights of people implicated in it must be properly protected.
He said: “If there is a role for the committee, we will certainly consider it.
“But we must protect the good name and reputation of people who don’t have the opportunity to defend themselves in the Oireachtas.”
The Attorney General may call on the High Court to rule if any details in the report could prejudice criminal proceedings.
The first report, published last summer, revealed negligence and corruption involving a number of officers in the Donegal garda division in the 1990s.
