It was Drew Harris’s last appearance before the Oireachtas Justice Committee before his retirement. In between well-wishes for his contribution to policing over a long career – including from Sinn Féin’s chair Matt Carthy – there was some close questioning and a political edge to it.
The most dramatic came from Labour TD Alan Kelly, who disclosed that Evan Fitzgerald, the young man who fired shots in a shopping centre in Carlow before turning his shotgun on himself, had been supplied with guns and ammunition by undercover gardaí.
As Pat Leahy and Conor Lally report, it was confirmed by the Commissioner that Fitzgerald (22) was supplied with the guns by gardaí under what is called a “controlled delivery”. The gardaí then arrested and charged him with possession of firearms and ammunition offences.
It was some disclosure. Such are the time limits on the questioning – because there are so many committees in the 34th Dáil there are strict restrictions – Harris didn’t actually manage to respond to the question posed by Kelly.
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A little later, however, Michael McDowell came back to the specific question and Harris said that controlled deliveries were frequently used in drugs and firearms cases.
The matter has been referred to Fiosrú, the policing ombudsman, but has now a public and political dimension. It’s certain that down the line, the Garda will come under political and public scrutiny for the deployment of this tactic.
As Kelly later told The Irish Times: “What he was doing was wrong, but where is the proportionality in the actions of An Garda Síochána? When undercover gardaí met this young man, followed him and knew who they were dealing with, did they not assess the level of threat differently and look at alternative interventions?
“They knew they were not dealing with dissidents or organised crime gangs but a young man with some issues. They have effectively said the same and even agreed to his bail, so obviously they didn’t believe he was a huge threat.”
Payback time (or more pay time) for former senior civil servants
There was a bit of surprise when it was announced on Tuesday that Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers was holding a media conference in relation to the National Shared Services Office (NSSO), a classic back-office State agency that doesn’t exactly draw news headlines.
But as Cormac McQuinn reports, errors in handling pension payments have resulted in a situation where Government ministers and as many as 13,000 retired civil servants could either owe money or be owed money because of miscalculations in relation to their pension contributions.
“This cohort of former civil servants were in work-share arrangements and, while not all are necessarily affected, their pensions are to be checked for underpayments,” writes McQuinn.
“There is also an issue in relation to the pensions of 30 retired senior civil servants and one of them could owe as much as €280,000 as a result of NSSO errors.”
It is believed most current Government ministers will owe money to the State, though some may be due some money back. The highest overpayment may be in the region of €30,000.
Ministerial Pressure Zones
There was a time when the political pressure zone only surrounded the Minister for Housing but this week it has extended nationwide, as it were, to the whole of Government.
Not only did the Minister James Browne have a testing day trying to explain the changes he has introduced to rent pressure zones (RPZs), the issue dominated Leaders’ Questions.
There was a snarly back and forth all day between the Government and Opposition parties over the changes, with some very thorny prose being used (see best reads below).
Extending the RPZ from the current 111 local election areas to all 166 was simple to explain. It was the future arrangements for tenants – especially existing ones – that came under scrutiny and, by extension, put the Government under the cosh.
Browne was explaining all day and living up to the Karl Rove dictum that when you are doing that, you are losing.
Under the new classification, a landlord who owns three properties or less is a “mom and pop” landlord. That became an issue. The distinction between new accommodation coming on stream and existing accommodation also became an issue. The Opposition pounded the Government all day on whether existing tenants in RPZ zones would see changes to the increase limits after six years, like new tenancies that begin from March 2026.
“The rights of existing tenants will not change” became the mantra of all Government people during the day. In other words, RPZ rules would continue for them ad infinitum.
However, it did not succeed in convincing.
The Smaller the Party the Bigger the Split
Wow. We did not see that coming. People Before Profit coming under attack from within for becoming too mainstream.
A group of some 30 activists have left the party over concerns it would enter a future Government with Sinn Féin. It’s not over the concerns the likes of Simon Harris or Micheál Martin would have. It’s because Sinn Féin is essentially an establishment party, they say.
The group’s best known politician is Dublin City Council member Madeleine Johansson. In a statement, it said a Sinn Féin-led government would “coalesce with the establishment and leave untouched the real government, the permanent government – the State bureaucracy, army chiefs and head of Guards”.
Ronan McGreevy has the full story on this latest split among the micro parties of the far-left.
Best Reads
Miriam Lord has the full welly on the back and forth over the RPZ changes yesterday including some choice name-dropping by the Taoiseach.
Ellen Coyne, our newest colleague on the political team, covered the press conference on Gaza on Tuesday, hosted by Senator Frances Black and others. She reports that the Independent Senator said a “groundbreaking” case against Airbnb will set a precedent for legal action against any Irish companies with links to illegal Israeli settlements.
Black said similar cases will continue to be taken until the Government includes services in the upcoming Occupied Territories Bill.
Gordon Deegan writes that Michael Healy-Rae’s family property company has posted €842,000 in profit over two years.
Playbook
Dáil
Wed, Jun 11th
09.00: Topical Issues
10.00: Private Members’ Business (Social Democrats): Motion re Ending the Central Bank’s facilitation of the sale of Israel Bonds
12.00: Leaders’ Questions.
12.34: Other Members’ Questions
17.02: Government Business: Mental Health Bill 2024 – Committee Stage
21.02: Deferred Divisions
21.32: Dáil adjourns
Seanad
10.30: Commencement Matters
11.30: Order of Business
13.00: Government Business: Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024 – Second Stage
15.30: Private Members’ Business: Child Trafficking and Child Sexual Exploitation Material (Amendment) Bill 2022 – Committee Stage
17.30: Seanad adjourns
Committees
09.30: Transport
Driving Test and NCT Delays
The NCT will say it has reduced the waiting time for tests from 27 weeks to 20 weeks and that one of the causes of the delays were a 60 per cent upsurge in driving test applications.
09.45: Health
Issues relating to the priorities and concerns in the context of the Mental Health Bill 2024
10.45: Social Protecion
Engagement with Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary
12.30: Arts, Media and Communications Committee
Matters relating to the termination of the Arts Council Grant Management IT system. Pat Leahy has details of the opening statement, which deeply regrets the decision by Minister for Arts Patrick O’Donovan not to renew the contract of director Maureen Kennelly over the handling of a controversial ICT project.
12.30: Further and Higher Education
Engagement with Minister for Further and Higher Education James Lawless.
15.30: Finance, Public Expenditure
Israeli Bond Programme
15.30: Agriculture
Examination of the impacts of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Act 2023
