Truly, GUBU is still alive and well and stalking the corridors of power. There is a recurring sense of disorganisation around too much of this Government's business. And amnesia and befuddlement of the genre which brought down Mr Reynolds are too frequently manifested in his successor, John Bruton.
The events surrounding the collapse of extradition proceedings against a Dublin man, Anthony Duncan, on April 13th were essentially very simple, but the Minister for Justice is wrong to attempt to draw a line under them at that point. What was simple became complicated through processes which have still not been properly explained, and therein lies the mystery which the opposition parties in the Dail have been attempting to elucidate this week.
Mrs Owen insisted yesterday that what was involved was a case of human error. But, on her own evidence, it was at the very least a series of errors, only the first of which the unintentional destruction of the original warrant from Britain sounds plausibly like a real accident. Others have the smell of cover up, errors of judgment, incompetence. On whose part? Perhaps the coming days will tell. Laxity that might have been understandable when ministers had small private offices has no place in a system coming down with special advisers, personal assistants, co ordinators and computerisation. Similarly, Garda Headquarters is well populated with senior officers in managerial roles while the numbers of operational gardai are shrinking.
A day or two after the case against Mr Duncan collapsed, Mrs Owen asked for an explanation from the Garda Commissioner. That was no less than her duty as Minister: the affair was already being commented on widely in the media, and reports were published, some of which she or the Taoiseach now say were unauthorised and incorrect. There were also allegations, ascribed to Garda sources and undenied by the Government, that British officials were responsible for the "fatal flaw" in the warrant, leading to an Ulster Unionist demand for the resignation of the British attorney general, Sir Nicholas Lyell.
Shortly before the garda sergeant said to be responsible for the mishap was moved to other duties (as is now known), Mrs Owen was quoted as saying that, if this State's extradition procedures were found to be defective, "we will review that". But she and her Department appear to have gone off the case at that point; if steps had been taken to find if defects existed, presumably Mrs Owen's civil servants would have found what the true situation was. Nearly four weeks after making that statement: Mrs Owen was galvanised to action by a written question in the Dail. In her reply she said she was "not satisfied with the delay" in the Garda investigation, and duly got a report less than a week later. Why did she not ask before?
It was all as if the Brendan Smyth case, which was supposed to streamline extradition procedures, had not happened. In the more extended statements which have been promised by Mr Bruton next week, to amplify the partial explanations so far forthcoming, the wider aspects of the case must be addressed. It is not enough to scapegoat a sergeant and suggest (seriously?) that the British should provide warrants on coloured paper in future to avoid mistakes in Dublin. And the Taoiseach should also consider the very serious implications if his Minister for Justice does not have an arrangement for routine and regular briefings from the Garda Commissioner at a time when there is so much public concern about crime. That may be the most scandalous aspect of an incident that the Government, up to now, has culpably sought to trivialise.