A formal complaint is to be made to the Oireachtas authorities about the decision of the Garda Síochána to open and read letters sent to TDs by a member of the force.
Disciplinary procedures were dropped against Garda Harry O'Mahoney on March 10th last - a day before the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, faced Dáil questions from Labour TD Mr Joe Costello. The letters were finally sent to Leinster House this week after the Garda released them.
"It is simply not acceptable that letters to TDs and senators would be opened and read in this way," said Mr Costello.
Garda O'Mahoney, who is based in the force's Phoenix Park headquarters, had put the letters in a parcel and hand-delivered it to Leinster House for all TDs and senators in late November 2001.
However, the Leinster House authorities, who were on alert at the time because of anthrax scares, refused to circulate the letters and forwarded the package to the Garda.
In his letter, Garda O'Mahoney appealed to politicians to protest about the deaths of a Chinese member of the Falun Gong movement and her eight-month-old daughter. He claimed Mrs Wang Lixun's neck had been broken and her baby's head crushed, while her husband, Mr Zhao Ming, had been tortured in a Chinese labour camp.
"Why? Because they were Falun Gong practitioners, a religion which believes in truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance and which is entirely peaceful and non-violent.
"We all have a common responsibility to dare to stand up in the struggle for freedom wherever human dignity is violated," wrote Garda O'Mahoney, who had learned of Mr Ming's plight from Falun Gong members.
"It must be our responsibility to speak on behalf of those who cannot be heard, to bear witness on behalf of those who cannot testify, to protect those who put their lives on the line," he continued.
The disciplinary action was initiated against Garda O'Mahoney, who had signed himself as such in the letter, on the grounds that gardaí are not allowed to engage in political activity or lobbying.
However, in the Dáil last month, the Minister for Justice conceded that it is not improper for gardaí to raise international human rights issues with members of the Oireachtas.
Mr Costello is now to write to the Dáil Committee on Procedures and Privileges to ensure that guarantees are given that this does not happen again. "It is very serious. And it should be regarded as such," he said.
"Checking parcels for security reasons is fair enough, perhaps, but it simply not on that the gardaí would take it upon themselves to actually read letters sent to members of the Oireachtas.Most members have only found out now that mail to them was intercepted and interfered with 18 months ago. This is a serious infringement of the rights of members of the Oireachtas," complained the Labour TD.
Garda O'Mahoney was disciplined even though the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, had raised Mr Ming's case with the Chinese Premier, Mr Zhu Rongji, last September.
Mr Ming was released early in 2002 and moved to Ireland.
Two members of the Garda Technical Bureau carried out separate handwriting tests to verify that the signature on the letters was that of Garda O'Mahoney, according to files seen by The Irish Times.
In a letter dated March 11th, Insp Denis Shields wrote to inform Garda O'Mahoney that disciplinary proceedings had been dropped and that the letters had been returned to the Leinster House authorities.
