The Minister for Justice Michael McDowell last night reignited the row over Garda numbers by issuing a letter to TDs in which he accused Fine Gael deputy leader Richard Bruton of using "extremely misleading" statistics.
Sent to all TDs before 9pm, he said figures used on Monday by Mr Bruton had failed to account for 50 gardaí transferred to the National Bureau of Criminal Investigations. "Deputy Bruton has since explained in the Dáil that he was unaware of that fact," said Mr McDowell in the letter, which was greeted with surprise by TDs.
A Fine Gael spokesman said Mr McDowell's apology to Mr Bruton on foot of his Goebbels remark now "rang hollow". "The Minister's ego has blinded him to the fact that he is in a hole and he should stop digging."
Mr Bruton pulled up Taoiseach Bertie Ahern sharply on Tuesday when Mr Ahern claimed that Mr Bruton's figures were wrong because they had excluded the 50 NBCI transfers.
"Richard Bruton's statement was based on a reply provided to him by the Minister. Any omission from that reply is the responsibility of the Minister," said a Fine Gael spokesman.
The Labour spokesman on Justice, Joe Costello, said Mr McDowell "has clearly failed to learn the lessons of the past few days and seems intent on making himself look even more foolish".
Mr Costello said the real issue was "the failure of the Minister to increase the strength of the force sufficiently to keep account of the rapidly growing population, increasing crime levels in many areas and worryingly low detection rates".
In his letter, the Minister said that Mr Bruton "solely relying on the response to a narrow technical question" had "produced an extremely misleading impression". His door "remains open" to all TDs who need briefings on statistical information "on the context in which that information should be viewed", he wrote.
Mr McDowell received Tánaiste Mary Harney's full support, who described him as "very colourful", and "probably one of the brightest people" she has ever met.
His Bruton apology is "a sign of strength and not as a sign of weakness", she said. "I've said things that I've regretted. Everybody who's in politics says things that they regret.
"I think he accepts himself that it was inappropriate. He is incredibly hard-working, he has loads of energy. In fact, sometimes I think he works too hard," she said.
Despite Mr McDowell's criticisms of Mr Bruton's political achievements, Ms Harney said she had "a very high regard" for his work in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment where she succeeded him.
The Minister is to be asked to appear before the FF parliamentary party to explain his plans for the Garda reserve, following some concerns expressed by Fianna Fáil TDs.
