A claim in an RTÉ documentary that a Cabinet Minister took cocaine lacks credibility, Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan has said. Ronan McGreevyand Conor Lally report.
In his first public comments in relation to the issue, Mr Lenihan said he did not intend to make any formal complaint to the Garda because he believes the highly-publicised allegations have no basis.
The claim was contained in a book called The High Society, by journalist Justine Delaney Wilson, which was made into a two-part documentary that was broadcast on RTÉ recently.
RTÉ is currently conducting an internal inquiry into the documentary following claims from the Government that the broadcaster had failed to substantiate the allegation.
The Broadcasting Complaints Commission has said it has received no formal complaints in relation to the programme.
Ms Delaney Wilson said she taped the interview with the Minister in question, but she destroyed the recording because of fears that the identity of the person involved would become known.
Mr Lenihan said new Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy should pursue any leads in relation to the claim, but he doubted that the claim was authentic. "It would be a hazardous investigation when there is no basis for the allegation other than a handwritten note. There is an issue of credibility, that's very clear this week," he said.
Mr Lenihan was speaking at Garda headquarters in Dublin, at a joint press conference with Mr Murphy to launch a new Garda fingerprint reading and storage system.
The Irish Airline Pilots' Association said Ms Delaney Wilson should hand over the tape containing the allegation that a pilot snorted cocaine on a regular basis to either the Garda or the Irish Aviation Authority. Spokesman Capt Michael McLaughlin said he found it hard to believe that a pilot would take cocaine in the cockpit of an aircraft.
He said: "it sounds highly unlikely to us, to the extent we don't believe it. She could settle it by producing the tape. Once the allegation is there, it should be investigated. We'd be absolutely adamant that it should be investigated because there is a serious public safety issue involved here." Ms Delaney Wilson, who is in New Zealand on holidays, was unavailable for comment.