THE Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, told the House that the only thing she knew about the letter from Judge Dominic Lynch which had been brought to her attention before she spoke in the Dail last Thursday was that she had "never seen it before Thursday"
Until she was able to establish whether it had relevance to the period after August 1st she had instructed that the letter, which was neither dated by the sender nor date-stamped by the Department of Justice, should be part of the inquiry she had set up into how the Government's decision on Judge Lynch had failed to be communicated.
"In the interests of the inquiry, and in the interests of fair play, I could not speak with any certainty about a letter shown to me shortly before I made my Dail statement," said the Minister. "I want to point out that there may well be more information about which I know nothing which will become evident in the course of the inquiry."
She assured the House that such information would be thoroughly investigated.
Subsequent to her statement in the Dail last Thursday it had come to her notice that a phone call had been received on Wednesday November 6th from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. On the Tuesday there had been a phone call from the Special Criminal Court registrar. She did not know what conversations took place and other information might yet come to light.
She had never failed to be accountable to the House, particularly in the aftermath of serious crime or a tragic event. She had given the House an "immediate account" and further information as soon as she had been able to. She would continue to do that.
Regarding Judge Lynch's letters, she said that she had his permission to make them public. She had telephoned the judge to apologise for his first letter of July 2nd not being acknowledged and for the way his name had been made the subject of public controversy.
The judge's letter of July 2nd last stated: "Further to my letter dated 29th of July, 1995, I repeat my request to be relieved of my duties relating to the Special[ Criminal Court. I do not wish to create a shortage of serving members and therefore, if required, I will be available during the coming vacation. Yours sincerely - The letter was marked "personal" and was addressed to the Minister.
His second letter, also marked "personal" and addressed to the Minister, stated: "It has occurred to me that my letter of the 2nd of July 1996 (copy enclosed), which I posted that day, has not reached you, as I have not received a reply. I shall be very much obliged if you will let me know what the future holds for me regarding the above. Yours sincerely -
A third letter, dated November 11th, also addressed to the Minister and marked "personal", stated: "Thank you for your telephone call to my home on Friday morning the 8th instant, in the course of which I mentioned my last letter to you, which you said was undated. In the earnest hope that the following information will be of some assistance, it was posted by me in an envelope which was marked PERSONAL and addressed to you on the afternoon of the 10th of October, 1996. Yours sincerely -
Mrs Owen said that she fully accepted political accountability for what had occurred, but she appealed to the House to deals with the matter "in a fair and measured way" and to wait until all the facts were available and then view them in their proper context.
She had immediately taken action once a doubt was raised through a letter she had received from the Attorney General on November 5th. She had ordered an independent inquiry. The keys issue was to establish precisely what happened and recommend whatever steps were necessary to ensure that a mistake of this gravity did not recur.
"Surely nobody can seriously argue that the setting up of an independent inquiry is consistent with an intention to cover up or mislead," said the Minister.
Without question, there had been a mistake, and steps were necessary to ensure that such, a mistake could not happen again. "But the opposition's transparent attempt to drag all and sundry into their `blame game' in the hope that they will somehow, sweep to power does not, in my, view, impress the people we represent collectively. It is time to show judgment and a sense of proportion. It is time to get back to work."