The Minister for Justice will be able to demand all Garda files on any citizen in the State under new powers contained in the Garda Bill, Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte said today.
"Far from assisting in the task of securing democratic accountability, [the Bill] will make him and his successors one of the chief threats to democracy in the State," Mr Rabbitte said.
Pat Rabitte
He was speaking after the publication today of eleven late amendments to the Garda Bill which proposes a wide range of reforms which Justice Minister Michael McDowell believes will be felt for the next 50 years. He has described the Bill as the most important piece of legislation of his career.
The amendments were cleared by Cabinet yesterday and will be debated today and tomorrow.
They include provision for the Garda Commissioner to sack officers up to inspector rank and includes a "whistleblowers" charter to protect officers who report "allegations of corruption and malpractice".
But Mr Rabbitte today described a section in the seventh list of amendments as conferring the current and future ministers for justice with "the most sweeping and illiberal powers".
The section is in response to the refusal in 1999 by then Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne to provide Mr McDowell, who was then attorney general, with full access to an internal Garda investigation into officers in Donegal.
The report compiled by Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty into allegations that became the subject of the Morris Tribunal was withheld from Mr McDowell on grounds that the Garda is independent of the DPP and Government.
Mr McDowell told the Dáil last week that the position was "profoundly legally mistaken".
However, he has moved to prevent a similar situation from arising again by including a section in the Garda Bill requiring the force to "account fully" to government and to the AG about its activities. It also requires the provision of "all materials, records and statements".
Mr Rabitte maintains the section is an "utterly disproportionate" response to the problem.
"Minister McDowell is determined to ensure there will never be such a row in future. And, in his determination, he has taken a sledgehammer to a peanut", the Labour leader said.
"He and his successors are in future to be given access on demand to any and every Garda file, about any and every, person, body, place or thing. This includes access to files on themselves and their personal or political friends and enemies."
Earlier in the Dáil, Mr Rabitte asked the Taoiseach whether Mr McDowell had moved to sack the current Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy after the recent publication of the Morris Tribunal report, which was scathing about the force in Donegal.
Bertie Ahern said there had been no such attempt. There was "not a shred of truth in the issue about the minister calling for the resignation of the Commissioner. None."