THE Minister of State at the Office of the Tanaiste, Ms Eithne Fitzgerald, has defended her action in writing to the Garda Siochana on behalf of a constituent whose car was seized for non-payment of road tax.
She has also strongly condemned the publication of details of the incident including the name of the woman concerned, Mrs Helen Delahunty of Stillorgan, in a daily newspaper as "an appalling breach of her privacy that I'm very angry about".
When private citizens approached their public representatives with a grievance it was "like coming to confession". They were entitled to personal privacy and she was "outraged" at publication of details of the case and the name of the woman concerned on the front page of a newspaper which had been "absolutely and totally out of order".
She told The Irish Times she was "doing the rounds", visiting the homes of her constituents, when for the first time she met Mrs Delahunty, who was "very upset".
"She had no tax on her car, which she admits was wrong. She was stopped and, with no money in her purse, the car was seized on her and she had to walk home."
The incident had happened in Mount Street in the early evening and, twice in the course of her walk home, Mrs Delahunty was harassed by patrons of the red light district along the canal, and was extremely distressed by the experience.
Although it had been claimed that gardai offered to call her a taxi, the Minister of State said it was her understanding from Mrs Delahunty that this was not the case.
On February 27th last, Ms Fitzgerald wrote to the Superintendent at Pearse Street garda station, pointing out that Mrs Delahunty had now paid her road tax. The letter added that Mrs Delahunty was a widow living on £63 a week non-contributory pension and did not have the price of a taxi home at the time.
Ms Fitzgerald's letter said the seizure of the car seemed "out of proportion to the offence". She asked the superintendent to have the incident investigated and requested that he consider "a more appropriate policy if people are found untaxed in future".
In a reply dated March 29th the Superintendent, Mr Daniel Sheehan wrote: "The gardai concerned with this lady give a different account of the circumstances surrounding the latest encounter. In all the circumstances I am in no position to interfere with actions taken by the gardai on the night in question at this stage. I do not wish to elaborate further on the matter."
Ms Fitzgerald said yesterday she was not aware of any other encounters between Mrs Delahunty and the gardai and had written her letter "in good faith in" relation to a case of human distress".
TDs came across such cases every day of the week and it was part of their job to bring attention to such cases and put the constituent's side of the story. She had written similar letters "to every public body in the country".
It had not struck her as unusual that Mrs Delahunty did not have enough money to get home because she knew she was in poor financial circumstances. There was no question of seeking to justify the non-payment of road tax and this had been rectified.
She said it might have been more appropriate "on a point of protocol" if she had pursued the matter with the Minister for Justice in the first instance but it had been her practice to deal with the local Garda superintendent.