The Minister for Justice Michael McDowell overstepped the mark by engaging in vulgar personal abuse, arrogant behaviour and downright misrepresentation in seeking to deflect attention from the inadequacies of the policing system for which he is responsible. It was a tawdry episode that will damage his image and raise questions over the credibility of his future pronouncements.
The only saving aspect of the contretemps was the comprehensive apology he tendered to Richard Bruton, the Fine Gael finance spokesman whom he likened to the Nazi propagandist, Dr Goebbels.
The facts of the matter are simply stated. Mr Bruton quoted figures supplied by the Department of Justice to show that Garda numbers in Dublin had increased by only two between December 2004 and December 2005. More challengingly, he linked this information with official statistics from 2000 to 2005, showing large increases in the number of murders, assaults and burglaries across the city, while detection rates had fallen.
The Minister chose to ignore the crime statistics and, in what appeared to be a furious outburst, he portrayed Mr Bruton as "the Dr Goebbels of propaganda". He described the Garda figures used as "rubbish", even though he must have suspected they came from his own department. And he went on to provide his own, more favourable, official figures.
The sensitivity of the Minister in relation to Garda Síochána numbers is understandable because the Government will not meet its target of 14,000 full-time members by 2007. By including student gardaí, however, the Minister and the Taoiseach have massaged those figures upwards to accord with Government commitments.
Serious challenges face the Garda Síochána. These include a shortage of manpower to deal with urban crime and a rapidly growing population; the need to introduce impartial promotional mechanisms, greater accountability and effective discipline within the force, along with outside expertise and the use of best policing practices. Some progress has been made. And new structures have been created under the Garda Síochána Act. But much remains to be done.
In such circumstances and with an election approaching, Mr McDowell reacted with particular aggression to criticism. Following what he described as a sleepless night, he took the only honourable course yesterday and apologised, offering Mr Bruton a handshake in the Dáil chamber, which was accepted. He also apologised for other recent remarks that implied the Green Party was somehow associated with a violent attack on the Progressive Democrats offices.
The Minister is no stranger to controversy. He has taken on the prison officers and the Garda representative body; he has challenged the bona fides of the Sinn Féin leadership. He is an articulate and intelligent politician but he must recognise certain conduct is inappropriate at ministerial level.