The Morris tribunal, which sits today in Donegal, could bring to a head the biggest crisis in Garda history ,writes Carol Coulter.
When Mr Peter Charleton SC stands up this morning in Donegal courthouse to make his opening statement on behalf of the Morris tribunal concerning some Donegal gardaí, he will begin a litany of the most extraordinary allegations ever made against members of the Garda Síochána.
These include the unjustified prosecution of members of the extended McBrearty family in connection with the death of Mr Ritchie Barron on the roadside in October 1996, and of Mr Frank McBrearty jnr in relation to an assault on another man, the harassment of other members of the family on unrelated matters, the making of hoax and extortion telephone calls to yet other people, and, in parallel, allegations that members of the Garda Síochána in Donegal were involved in fake finds of explosives and bomb-making equipment planted by themselves, and that other people were, like the McBreartys, subjected to false arrest and harassment by the Garda without good reason.
If even some of these allegations are eventually found to be true, it will be deeply damaging to the reputation of the gardaí involved.
However, it could go further. The tribunal is also examining whether the Garda complaints inquiry process dealt adequately with complaints made by Mr McBrearty snr from 1997 until 2001. This calls into question the mechanisms for examining complaints against members of the Garda, and the whole issue of the accountability of the Garda Síochána, with implications for the reputations of senior officers.
Mr McBrearty did not seek representation at the tribunal because its terms of reference did not include the way in which the State itself, and in particular the then Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, dealt with his complaints. He is now pursuing this matter through the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Nonetheless, what happened to him and his family will be a central part of the tribunal, and he will be called as a witness.
The tribunal is like an octopus, with several limbs reaching in different directions, and it will be the unenviable task of Mr Charleton and his fellow counsel, Mr Paul McDermott SC and Mr Tony Barr BL, to make some sense of it in their opening statement. This is expected to go on for about six days. It has been described as being like "10 murder trials end-to-end" for the counsel involved.
This opening statement will lay the foundations for the rest of the tribunal, where different allegations will be examined in depth.
This tribunal was set up, under the chairmanship of retired President of the High Court, Mr Justice Morris, after a private examination of the issues involved by Mr Shane Murphy SC. He recommended that a tribunal was necessary.
Earlier some of the allegations had been examined by an Assistant Garda Commissioner, Kevin Carthy, which has already led to a small number of prosecutions. Both inquiries have generated a considerable amount of documentation, and the announcement of the tribunal produced more, as members of the public and interested parties came forward.
The counsel for the tribunal have already gone through all the allegations, all the statements and all the documents, they have summarised every statement from every single person, and those accused of wrong-doing have been given the opportunity to make a reply. Some accusations from one party produced a counter-accusation from the accused party. Others have not replied at all.
For some of the people concerned, the whole issue is complicated by a number of both civil and criminal cases that are also going on, in which certain of these allegations feature. At the last count there were 36 such cases, and the tribunal will be anxious to ensure that fair procedures apply to all those involved, and that none of these cases are prejudiced. But despite its best efforts, there may well be judicial reviews along the way, which will hold it up.
In order to be as fair as possible to everyone, all those named will receive both a CD-ROM and hard copy of the material relating to them, so that they can have an opportunity to reply.
Some 73 individuals and organisations have been granted the right to legal representation so far, and others can apply for it if they feel they need it.
The opening statement will also be posted on the website of the tribunal as it is given day-by-day. This will provide a "map" to the papers that will later be presented, and is intended to put order on the whole plethora of allegations, spelling out the issues.
The role of counsel in a tribunal like this is different from that in a criminal trial, when both the prosecution and defence counsel want to achieve a specific result from the outset.
The function of a tribunal is not to convict anybody, but to make findings of fact. The role of counsel is to conduct research and help the tribunal establish where the truth lies.
To this end the Morris tribunal has, in addition to counsel, two investigators of its own, one a retired member of the Garda Síochána, the other from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The latter is Chief Supt Brian Garvey, while the former is former Supt Michael Finn. This combines an intimate knowledge of how the Garda works (and this will be crucial when the issue of the use of informers is examined) and an experienced investigator from outside the force.
One person close to the Tribunal told The Irish Times: "This is about who's lying. They can't all be telling the truth."