Minister for Justice Michael McDowell warned the McBreartys that he would not be blackmailed and bullied by them during heated exchanges in Donegal yesterday.
A visibly angry Mr McDowell denied he was lying and urged Frank McBrearty snr and his son, Frank jnr, to co-operate with the Morris tribunal.
The exchanges took place during a session of the MacGill Summer School addressed by Mr McDowell.
The Morris tribunal has found that gardaí attempted to frame two members of the McBrearty family for the murder of cattle dealer Richie Barron in October 1996 when in fact he had been the victim of a hit-and-run.
Yesterday, after handing a document with 29 questions to the Minister, the McBreartys sat in the front row and questioned him on the Donegal Garda scandal during the question-and-answer session after his address.
Mr McDowell said, in response to continual heckling from the McBreartys, "would you let me finish? I am now beginning to see part of the problem of this".
Mr McBrearty snr said the Minister was the problem, and accused him of of lying as the exchanges continued.
"I am not lying to you," Mr McDowell replied. "I have not told one lie." Mr McBrearty snr responded: "You prove to me that you have not." The Minister said the McBreartys and their lawyers would get paid on condition that they co-operated with the tribunal. As the exchanges continued, Mr McDowell said: "I will not be blackmailed out of that position . . . I will not be bullied by you in these circumstances."
Mr McBrearty jnr, who did not have access to a microphone, then made a reference to a well-known barrister. The Minister said: "I uphold people's rights. I don't do what you have just done, assassinating the character of a senior barrister who I know very well to be an honest man. You are making reckless allegations."
Mr McBrearty jnr accused the Minister of misleading the Irish public over costs. "Minister, in August of this year, a member of the Garda force who fabricated a statement against me is being allowed to retire. I am asking you why four members in the serious crime squad in Dublin have not been suspended." He added that he would get justice at the European Court of Human rights because he was not getting justice in this country.
Mr McDowell said he had full confidence in the tribunal and that it would call every relevant witness. He had absolute and total confidence in its integrity and determination to get to the bottom of every issue of relevance to the case. "No way," responded Mr McBrearty jnr.
The Minister repeated his confidence in the tribunal.
Mr McDowell said he would apologise formally to the family and others when all the facts were known. "The wrong that was done to the McBrearty family was outrageous, indefensible, scandalous, wholly unlawful," he added. When Mr McBrearty said the Minister already knew the full facts, Mr McDowell replied he did not.
Mr McBrearty jnr asked the Minister to meet them privately, saying justice delayed was justice denied. "If you are not prepared to do it, I will ask the questions outside," he said.
Mr McDowell said he had no problem meeting the McBreartys in private. "Let the record show that I did meet your father in private and let the record show that I did meet your father in private for a good hour in my office a number of years ago."
Mr McBrearty jnr said Mr McDowell had seen on video what had been done to him in Letterkenny Garda station and had heard the allegations his family had made against certain members of An Garda.
"It is about what they have done to my family, the way they interrogated us knowing that we were innocent people, plus the fact that we had photographs of Richie Barron's dead body shoved into our faces."
Mr McBrearty snr said to Mr McDowell: "You are looking at the man here who brought this corruption out into the open." Mr McDowell said he accepted that.
The Minister said the Morris tribunal was there to bring justice, that it had been exemplary in looking after the interests of the McBrearty family. "If the Morris tribunal calls me before it, I will go there and testify," he added.
Mr McDowell said he had wanted to meet the McBreartys' lawyers to find out why father and son would not appear again at the tribunal. There were costs available to them, to be paid promptly if they participated, he said.
The session was chaired by the school's director, Joe Mullholland, who said he felt they had been more than fair to the McBreartys. As the Minister left the ballroom of the Highlands Hotel, where the exchanges took place, Mr McBrearty snr said to him he should resign.
Mr McBrearty jnr said: "You cannot run any more Minister."
In a statement last night Mr McDowell condemned "the outrageous attacks" on the integrity of the Morris tribunal and its legal team.
