The Northern Ireland Office and the RUC have been holding talks on leaks of government documents leaks following the latest disclosure of a sensitive official memorandum on the peace process.
"Leaks are very damaging to good government," the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, said yesterday. Every effort will be made to discover who leaked this document. We are talking to the police about conducting an investigation."
In Dublin, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, said the "leakers" were clearly opposed to the peace process and they should examine their consciences. "But the peace process is too strong . . . sneaky little people in the Northern Ireland Office are not going to obstruct us in the pursuit of what we all seek to achieve - a permanent peace on the island of Ireland . . .Shame on them," the Minister said.
The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, said the civil service in the North was "disloyal to its own government" and needed to be shaken up. The latest leak showed that "the `permanent government' - the civil service - the people who have run this place for over 25 years are resisting change". He added: "They are against the equality agenda, they are against changes in the status quo, they are against nationalists getting our full entitlements and they are going to try to continue to resist change. We have to face up to the reality that the civil service needs to be shaken up. And these people who are disloyal to their own government, who are against the Good Friday Agreement, need to be faced up to. That's a job for the British government but it's also a job for the rest of us as well."
The leaked document, published in full in yesterday's Irish Times, was a memorandum by Dr Mowlam's private secretary detailing telephone conversations the Northern Secretary had with Dublin, Washington, the SDLP and Sinn Fein on the composition of the North's new police commission.
The memo quotes a senior Irish civil servant urging that "a nationalist with street cred" be appointed to the commission and naming the director of the Belfast-based Committee on the Administration of Justice, Mr Martin O'Brien, in this context. However in a statement last night the CAJ expressed "surprise and irritation" and said the reference to Mr O'Brien was inaccurate. The statement added: "Mr O'Brien confirmed that late on Tuesday 2nd June he was asked by an Irish Government official if his own name could be proposed. He made it clear that he did not want his name to go forward. "It was further suggested that in addition to human rights expertise, there was a need for nationalist balance on the Commission. Mr O'Brien pointed out that he was neither a nationalist nor a unionist and could not be perceived as a representative of either community."
Mr Sammy Wilson of the Democratic Unionist Party sharply criticised Dr Mowlam for discussing the police commission with the Sinn Fein press officer, Ms Rita O'Hare, who is wanted for questioning by the RUC. "Mo Mowlam is determined to plunge Northern Ireland into an Alice in Wonderland world where right is wrong and wrong is right," Mr Wilson said.
In Dublin, Mr Andrews said his own conversation with Dr Mowlam was not leaked. In advance of the reported conversation between Dr Mowlam and Mr Gallagher, the Minister said he had spoken to the Northern Secretary. He had to travel to Italy, to the Euro-Med conference, and it was left to the official to "deal with it as a follow-up".
"In that sense, it is an unfortunate leak. It is less than helpful to the process and I would like to think it will not happen again. If there are names to be leaked to the media, it should be names of politicians, who are the people who should take responsibility in that regard", said Mr Andrews.