A senior Garda officer criticised by the Morris tribunal should not have been recruited to interview candidates for the Garda Reserve, Minister for Justice Michael McDowell told the Dáil.
He said that it was not in keeping with best practice, and, as far as Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy, and himself, were concerned, it would not happen again. "The decision was not taken at commissioner level. In the circumstances, the Garda Commissioner has disapproved of it and made his views very clear down the line."
The Minister was replying to Green Party spokesman Ciarán Cuffe, who said that former superintendent John Fitzgerald was criticised by Mr Justice Morris for "leading the utterly negligent investigation into the death of cattle dealer Richie Barron".
Mr Cuffe said he was concerned if the culture within the Garda had changed.
"It is largely agreed that in order for the Garda to regain its position as a respected and trusted protector of the peace, that the organisation must root out the small but disproportionately influential core of mischief-making members who have damaged the reputation of the force with such detrimental effect.
"How can this happen? How can we weed them out when retired members of the force, linked so closely to wrongdoing in Donegal, are brought in to recruit new members of the force?" Mr Cuffe claimed that it highlighted the lack of communication between the Department of Justice and the Garda.
"One of the key concerns, voiced by Mr Justice Morris, was the issue of effective communication between the Department of Justice and Garda headquarters. And one of the most glaring omissions from the Minister's raft of reforms to date is the establishment of an independent Garda authority."
Mr McDowell said he would be shortly making a public statement outlining the reasons why it would be disastrous to establish an independent authority.
He added that he had no function in personally appointing members of such boards. He was anxious, he added, that nothing would be done to affect the good standing of the Garda Reserve in the eyes of the people, and he had communicated that to the Garda Commissioner, who shared his perspective completely, and to the public appointments service.
The fact that the controversy had arisen underlined the need for care in the matter, he added.
The person in question, said Mr McDowell, sat for one day on a two-person interview board in Sligo for the selection of trainee reserve members.
Mr McDowell said that the Garda Commissioner had indicated it would not recur and had given directions on the matter.
"It was obviously not brought to his attention. It is obviously something he would not have approved of if it had been brought to his attention.
"In those circumstances, all I can tell you is the truth of the situation: this was somebody making an erroneous decision, somebody who should have thought very carefully about it and did not, obviously." He said that he did not know precisely why the mistake took place.
"It was a mistake that was made but will not be repeated."
He added that he thought that it might have been an "an innocent blunder" rather than anything in any way sinister.
But, quite clearly, it had the potential to harm the reserve, said Mr McDowell.
