Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has undermined the authority and the independence of the Director of Public Prosecutions, former High Court judge Mr Justice Feargus Flood claimed last night. Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent, reports.
In a strongly worded attack, the Centre for Public Inquiry chairman said the Minister had made "unsustainable and totally untrue" allegations against the CPI and its director, Frank Connolly.
Expressing "full confidence" in Mr Connolly on behalf of the board, Mr Justice Flood said the DPP's office had confirmed on Thursday that it had decided in March 2003 not to prosecute him.
The Minister has repeatedly alleged that Mr Connolly travelled to Colombia in April 2001 on a false passport, along with his brother, Niall, and convicted IRA bomber Pádraig Wilson. Following his allegations, the charitable foundation Atlantic Philanthropies withdrew funding for the centre.
However, the DPP's letter, seen by The Irish Times, makes clear that the decision not to prosecute Mr Connolly "would be subject to review should further evidence come to light".
Meanwhile, Atlantic Philanthropies was given details of the Minister's December 6th Dáil attack on Mr Connolly before it decided to withdraw the CPI's funding on the same day.
The foundation contacted the Minister's office early on December 6th in search of the written Dáil statement, and was told no advance copy would be given.
The document was placed on the Dáil record shortly after 7pm and made available to Atlantic's New York office in time for the meeting where the funding cut was decided.
Rejecting the Minister's criticisms, Mr Justice Flood said the CPI had "provoked the ire of certain vested interests and their political supporters" since its establishment in February. The two reports it published so far were "issued in the public interest, were factually based and devoid of comment", he said, while inquiries of "public importance" were under way. The first report, on the construction of a hotel near Trim Castle, showed that former environment minister Martin Cullen had refused to heed repeated warnings from senior environment officials, he said.
Speaking before the judge's statement, Mr McDowell insisted that the IRA had tried to earn tens of millions of dollars from Farc guerrillas in Colombia by offering them bomb-making training.
Meanwhile, a justice official accepted that the Minister knew the DPP had decided not to prosecute Mr Connolly in March 2003. However, the Minister had not known in September of this year - when he briefed Atlantic founder Chuck Feeney privately about the allegations - whether gardaí had found any evidence after March 2003.