Madam, - The Minister for Justice agrees with the Morris Tribunal that the careers of two Garda officers were "ruined or at least damaged" because two parliamentarians passed accusations made against them to his predecessor for investigation without first checking thei\r veracity.
If real rather than just hypothetical harm was done to the two officers' careers, it can only be that they were denied due promotion on account of the accusations hanging over them. Minister Ahern is in effect admitting that the higher echelons of the Garda Síochána allowed what are now said to be "wild" allegations to infect the promotion procedure, instead of using the force's investigative resources to "first check their veracity". In fact, letting them influence promotions simply lent the allegations credence. The Garda's abandonment of the principle "innocent until proven guilty" is what injured the reputation and character of the officers.
If the two gardaí were "debased", as Mr Ahern put it, he should lay the blame closer to home than on the parliamentarians. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL DRURY,
Avenue Louise, Brussels, Belgium.