In yesterday's edition of The Irish Times, we published a number of articles on the report of the Morris Tribunal.
In one of these articles, appearing on page 9 of the paper and headlined "Senior Officers 'grossly negligent' in their duties", there is reference to Judge Morris's report concerning the manner in which senior members of the Garda tried to avoid accepting responsibility for their actions.
The article goes on to state as follows: "A prominent example was the 'very unhelpful' evidence provided by Chief Superintendent Tom Monahan regarding the true role and responsibility of the Border superintendent, the report said."
The reference to unhelpful evidence is incorrect and misleading. The Morris report actually refers, at paragraph 12.111, to Chief Superintendent Tom Monaghan's "helpful evidence".
The Irish Times regrets this mistake. The Irish Times unreservedly apologises to Chief Superintendent Tom Monaghan for the hurt and distress caused to him by this serious error and wishes to retract the false references in the article.
We accept fully that Chief Superintendent Monaghan has at all times provided full and complete co-operation and assistance to the tribunal and has carried out all his obligations in this regard to an exemplary level.
Indeed, it is noted that Mr Justice Morris's report contains a considerable number of references to Chief Superintendent Monaghan all of which are complimentary of him and where reference is made to his evidence, it was invariably accepted by the tribunal.