POLITICAL REACTION:THE GOVERNMENT last night maintained that there were no hidden agendas in its decision to publish the sixth report of the Morris tribunal on the day Brian Cowen became Taoiseach.
Amid a fierce onslaught from the Opposition about the timing of the report, the Department of Justice insisted that it had little choice but to publish it yesterday.
"There was no sense of anybody trying to cover up or take advantage of any news cycle," said a spokesman for Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan in defending the decision to publish the report yesterday.
Mr Lenihan received the report on April 24th from the inquiry chairman, Mr Justice Frederick Morris. He was obliged by statute to publish it within 14 days, said the spokesman, pointing out that copies had to be made available to interested parties before publication. He added printing of copies had to be arranged, and the May bank holiday had also intervened.
However, the Opposition refused to accept the explanation. Fine Gael accused Mr Lenihan of trying to bury the Morris report and the Labour Party claimed that the timing of the publication was "calculated and cynical".
The row over the timing dominated political reaction to the report. Mr Lenihan said he would now consult with Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy and would bring forward any necessary proposals for change.
"The latest report . . . finds persons were treated very badly by individual members of An Garda Síochána . . . The investigation into the death of Mr Barron was found by the tribunal to have been deeply flawed and to have included conduct by individual members of the Garda Síochána which was utterly unprofessional and at times unlawful," said Mr Lenihan.
Arrests were made with no proper basis in law and persons in custody were ill-treated," said Mr Lenihan
However, Fine Gael justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan said the timing of the publication was questionable, saying that Mr Lenihan and the Government were trying to deliberately bury the findings. "The Morris tribunal has played a vital role in bringing the corruption to light." said Mr Flanagan. "The Minister for Justice has a duty and a responsibility to ensure that the findings of the Morris tribunal are publicly aired."
Labour's justice spokesman Pat Rabbitte said the "cynical slipping" of the report was evidence that little had changed in the Government despite the change of Taoiseach. He said the Government wanted to "swamp the bad news of yet more critical findings of Garda conduct in Donegal in the tsunami of news coverage that will mark the election of the Taoiseach and appointment of new Ministers".
He contended that the pace of Garda reform had been too slow.
