OTRs - A sham Crisis

The grandstanding by the DUP and other unionist politicians over OTRs is a sham crisis which has more to do with upcoming elections than with dealing with and resolving legacy issues.

In recent days there has been deliberate misrepresentation about the OTR issue and the provision of letters by the British government.

Unionist leaders have intentionally engaged in hyperbole and feigned anger over an issue that has been on the political and public agenda since the Good Friday Agreement negotiations.

The fact is that there was no agreement between Sinn Féin and the British government on how to resolve the issue of OTRs. Those who received the letters, as they are entitled to, were citizens who were not wanted by the British forces and they received their letters because this was the case.

Others who were wanted by the British for alleged offences would have been released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement if they had been in prison. If they were tried and sentenced at any time after the Agreement they would have served only two years in prison.

Despite accepting that the position of OTRs was an anomaly under the Good Friday Agreement the British government did not produce a satisfactory way of resolving the matter. Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s Chief of Staff has acknowledged: ‘As we were not able to find an across the board solution that worked we had to deal with the ‘On the Runs’ as individual cases through an administrative system ...’

The administrative system is an entirely legal process, compliant with the law, involving all of the relevant senior law officers of the north and of the British state.

It is important to understand that the letters provided cannot be rescinded. If you’re not wanted – you’re not wanted.

The anomaly of OTRs has been referenced to publicly on countless occasions.

"The British and Irish governments acknowledged this at Hillsborough Castle in March 2001.

Several months later the issue of resolving the issue of OTRs was covered in Paragraph 20 of the Weston Park Agreement.

In May 2003 following negotiations at Leeds Castle the two governments issued a Joint Declaration, including a separate paper dealing specifically with OTRs.

And in October 2005 the then British Secretary of State said in the British Parliament that the government planned to legislate in respect of OTRs.

In January 2006 Sinn Féin and the other parties, for differing, reasons rejected the legislation but the OTR issue continued to be the focus of discussions publicly and privately.

"It has been the subject of discussion at Policing Board meetings at which SDLP and DUP members, some of whom are lawyers, were present; was referenced in the Eames/Bradley proposals; and is covered in Jonathan Powell’s account of the negotiations.

Powell for example, acknowledged talking to the DUP on this matter and that they accepted the implementation of the Joint Declaration proposals on OTRs provided they had a letter from Tony Blair effectively blaming Trimble.

The British government should ensure that if anyone else comes forward seeking clarification of their status that they are treated in the same way as the others covered by the administrative system Under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Human Rights Act all persons have a legal right upon request to be informed if the police require them for questioning.

The letter that those who made application received makes it clear that if any evidence emerges of any offence then the person receiving the letter can expect to face due process.

Clearly, despite all of the feigned brouhaha and hot air generated by unionist leaders this process is not an amnesty.

It is also worth recalling that the Good Friday Agreement, which the people of the island of Ireland overwhelmingly voted for in two referenda, saw the early release of over 400 republican political prisoners, and loyalist prisoners from jails in Britain and Ireland, north and south, many of whom were serving lengthy prison sentences.

The referenda vote reflected the desire of citizens north and south for an end to conflict and for peace and a recognition that the issue of prisoners was one that had to be resolved.

While the DUP campaigned against the Good Friday Agreement they lost that vote and are obliged to respect the democratic wish of the Irish people, including at that time a majority of unionists.

The DUP also signed on to work the power sharing institutions in 2007 and now share the Assembly and the Executive with former political prisoners.

In an effort to ensure that our past does not undermine the peace and the hope for a better future Richard Haass and Meghan O Sullivan produced a comprehensive compromise package to achieve this. Sinn Féin signed up for these. The DUP and other unionists thus far have refused.

The legacy of the past and parades issues and other matters are of such critical importance that the opportunity presented by the Haass proposals needs to be seized and seized now."

Policing Scadals: A Commission of Investigation is the only real option – Adams

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD set out Sinn Féin’s analysis and proposals on the GSOC/Whistleblowers/McCabe dossier scandals in a lengthy speech to the Dáil this morning.

Below is an edited version of the main points and the full text of his remarks.

Deputy Gerry Adams:

·        On this issue the Minister has failed miserably.  What each of these scandals has demonstrated is an unhealthy close relationship between the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Garda Commissioner. 

·        Each scandal has highlighted an inability on the Minister's behalf to properly address the serious issues which have emerged for the justice system and An Garda Síochána. 

·        This runs in marked contrast to the rhetoric from the Government about ending cronyism and the need for transparency and accountability. 

·        On each occasion, the Minister's first instinct has been to circle the wagons around the Garda Commissioner and other senior Gardaí rather than seek to get to the bottom of the various allegations without fear or favour.

·        We believe that the cumulative effect of these scandals and in particular the Minister's handling of them amount to an issue more serious than the position of the Minister for Justice and Equality.  It is clearly now a matter of confidence in the administration of justice and policing and a high degree of confidence is necessary at public level among citizens.

·        The Government appointed retired judge, John Cooke, to carry out a review of the various bits and pieces around.  I wish him well but it is our considered opinion that the review under Mr. Justice Cooke is not sufficient.  It falls far short of what is required to get to the bottom of this issue.

·        I am from the North and I know what bad policing is.  I lived in a police state for most of my adult life and I am proud to have played a small part in changing that.  We need to have a situation where politicians get out of policing matters.  Such matters should be administered in an accountable and fully independent way.

·        In this case, the Minister should have backed out of it.  He should have brought in the type of investigation that is allowed under the Commissions of Investigation Act. 

·        In respect of the McCabe dossier Gerry Adams said: These allegations may be totally and absolutely unfounded.  I do not know and we have refrained from making any comment on that.  Some of us have been on the receiving end of totally unfounded allegations for a very long time.  However, these allegations were not new to the Minister for Justice and Equality.  Indeed, the allegation is that he has known about them for two years.

·        Yesterday, the Government announced the appointment of a barrister to examine the claims contained in the dossier.  Yet again, in my view, that is not enough.  I have listened to what the Taoiseach said yesterday and I thought he performed well in terms of how he outlined all this.  This, however, is all in marked contrast to the mandate the Government was given when it was elected.

·        Last week, I wrote to the Taoiseach asking him to come into the Dáil to make a statement on all these issues.  As usual, the Oireachtas was bypassed by the Government.  I was able to read about what was going to happen in the Chamber in Monday morning's newspapers.

·        The Government's focus is on trying to manage public opinion on these issues.

·        I was not surprised, therefore, when the Minister did not apologise because I knew in advance, as a result of reports in this morning's newspapers and on television last night, that he had no intention of doing so.  That is one way of doing business but it is not real politics.  It is the politics of spin and throwing shapes as opposed to that of making fundamental changes to the conditions in which people live and to the institutions and protocols by which we are governed.

·        Any charge those in government have levelled at the individuals who preceded them in office is mirrored by the way in which they have gone about dealing with this issue.  Even though the allegations that have been made are serious, grave and hugely devastating for the families and others involved, it is the way the Government has responded to them which has caused the crisis in confidence.  It is clear - at least for now - that the Government is putting the Minister's interests above that of public confidence.  I regularly find myself asking what on earth Labour is doing in government.  I just do not know what is its function in the current Administration.

·        The only credible and acceptable way to achieve clarity in respect of this chaotic episode and to bring it to a conclusion is through the establishment of an independent inquiry under the Commissions of Investigations Act 2004. 

·        I do not understand why the Taoiseach did not come before the House yesterday in order to announce an independent inquiry.  Had he done so, he would have shown leadership and removed this matter from the realms of both party politics and politics in general. 

·        The way the Government has dealt with this matter is representative of that same old way of doing things.  It is also part of the same old culture which those in government pledged to get rid of. 

·        That brings me to its treatment of brave people who have come forward.  I refer to those who have identified that something is wrong, who have pursued all the proper and legal ways of resolving matters and who want a light to be shone on the various issues about which they are concerned.  The people in question are not used to the focus of the media being upon them and neither are they used to public scrutiny.  Their families are certainly not used to reading about them in newspapers.  It takes very strong individuals to travel the obstacle course that has been erected.  I commend those involved in this instance on doing that.

·        The case for establishing an independent inquiry into the bugging scandal, which may or may not be a matter of substance, and the claims relating to the dossier presented by Sergeant Maurice McCabe under the Commissions of Investigations Act 2004 is unanswerable.  During his lengthy contribution, the Minister failed to provide one credible reason as to why an inquiry under the Act should not take place.  Yesterday, the Taoiseach also failed to provide a single good reason in this regard. 

·        In respect of the confidential recipient Mr. Adams said: We are now faced with the bizarre situation whereby, as a result of what he said about the Minister, Mr. Oliver Connolly's head has been the only one to roll in the aftermath of this series of scandals.  The Minister did not utter one word about that matter during his contribution.  He unilaterally sacked the man whom he saw fit to appoint to the position of confidential recipient. 

·        The evidence of the Government's performance is that there is little interest in effective systems of oversight or governance. 

·        Our Oireachtas team is not fazed by the Minister's arrogance and we will continue to hold him to account, I hope, in a fair, but robust and reasonable way.  We support the essential role of An Garda Síochána.  We have a commitment and we commend the commitment of the overwhelming majority of Gardaí who uphold the law and who look after all of us every day. 

·        Without seeking to draw any comparisons between the Garda Síochána and the old discredited RUC, it is clear that fundamental change is needed in the administration of policing and justice in this part of Ireland as well.  It is very obvious there needs to be a clear separation of Government from the Garda Síochána. 

·        No police service, no senior police officer and no Garda Commissioner should be accountable to a politician no matter who that is.  It does not matter whether it is Dermot Ahern or Deputy Alan Shatter or Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn.  The citizens deserve a policing service which is overseen by an independent authority.  The Garda Commissioner should be fully accountable to that authority, as should joint policing committees, and all of that should be accountable to the Oireachtas.

·        Sinn Féin will soon publish its Garda Síochána (amendment) Bill 2014 and we will present our vision for change and our solution to the problems so evident over the past 18 months…

·        This has been the Minister's greatest failure.  He is not a stupid person.  It is not the allegations of misconduct by some Gardaí that has eroded public confidence, it is his and the Government's failure to deal with these matters properly, fairly and in a transparent way.  The Minister is bound to know that.

 

February 26^th 2014

The full text of Gerry Adams remarks:

 

Deputy Gerry Adams: While I disagree with the Minister for Justice and Equality on many political and ideological issues, I respect the reforming focus he has brought to the necessary eradication of many outdated and inappropriate social anomalies in our system that work to the disadvantage of citizens.  I wish to state as much clearly on the record.

 

However, on this issue the Minister has failed miserably.  What each of these scandals has demonstrated is an unhealthy close relationship between the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Garda Commissioner.  Each scandal has highlighted an inability on the Minister's behalf to properly address the serious issues which have emerged for the justice system and An Garda Síochána.  This runs in marked contrast to the rhetoric from the Government about ending cronyism and the need for transparency and accountability.  On each occasion, the Minister's first instinct has been to circle the wagons around the Garda Commissioner and other senior Gardaí rather than seek to get to the bottom of the various allegations without fear or favour.

 

Sinn Féin has come to these issues in a robust manner but we have come to them in a more measured way than our colleagues in Fianna Fáil.  We believe that the cumulative effect of these scandals and in particular the Minister's handling of them amount to an issue more serious than the position of the Minister for Justice and Equality.  It is clearly now a matter of confidence in the administration of justice and policing and a high degree of confidence is necessary at public level among citizens.

 

The first of these scandals came under the Minister's watch when it was revealed that two Garda whistleblowers, John Wilson and Sergeant Maurice McCabe, approached Deputy Clare Daly with their concerns regarding the quashing of penalty points by senior gardaí.  In early 2012, the two whistleblowers brought their concerns to the then Garda confidential recipient, Oliver Connolly.  After months of apparent stonewalling they decided to take their allegations and evidence to the Road Safety Authority, the Comptroller and Auditor General, various Departments and Ministers and an Teachta Daly.  Then, in a move which has been the hallmark of the Minister's tenure, he attacked the complainants.  In a television interview he made disgraceful allegations about an Teachta Mick Wallace which clearly came from the Garda Commissioner.  As pressure mounted in the Oireachtas, the Minister then settled for an internal Garda inquiry into the issue to be carried out by assistant commissioner John O'Mahoney.  After the report of this investigation, which was published in May of last year, the Minister sought to minimise concern about the implementation of the penalty points system by the Garda.  He even went onto the plinth to attack the two whistleblowers in a scurrilous effort to undermine their credibility.  The Minister would later, wrongly and disgracefully, accuse the Garda whistleblowers of not co-operating with the investigation.  He has yet to correct the public record in that regard and he has failed to do so again today.

 

Not unreasonably, Sergeant Maurice McCabe has asked that if he did not co-operate with the O'Mahony report, why did that report not mention this?  Why did the Minister, Deputy Shatter, not say so when he spoke after the report was published?  Why was Sergeant Maurice McCabe not disciplined?  Why did Assistant Commissioner O'Mahony's team contact and interview numerous officers all over the State, yet ignore Sergeant McCabe?

 

The O'Mahony report has since been discredited with the publication late last year of the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General, which found that one in five motorists charged with traffic offences in this State were escaping points, that half of all summonses relating to traffic offences were not actually served, and that in some Garda districts there was a penalty points termination rate 50 times higher than in others.

 

That report led to the Oireachtas Committee of Public Accounts which was given a number of boxes of documents from the two whistleblowers backing up their allegations.  A very defensive, and many would say a very arrogant, Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan gave evidence to the Committee of Public Accounts.  He went as far as saying that the actions of the two whistleblowers were disgusting.  These gardaí are mandated, trained and paid to uphold the law and report allegations of law-breaking, yet active efforts were made to prevent them from reporting what they believed were breaches of the law.  Who is preventing them?  It is the Garda Commissioner supported by the Minister for Justice and Equality.

 

The Minister, Deputy Shatter, sought to prevent Sergeant Maurice McCabe from providing evidence on the matter.  Indeed, it appeared likely that he would initiate court action to prevent that.  In my humble opinion, I think that is what forced the change, as the Minister was moved to proceed with some sort of review of all these matters, which in my view and that of my party Sinn Féin, is inadequate.

 

As all of this was unravelling, the revelation came that there was a suspicion of illegal surveillance and bugging at the offices of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC.  Once again, the Minister's instinct was to seek to put GSOC in the dock.  The Taoiseach went on to misrepresent the Garda Síochána Act when he claimed that GSOC had not fulfilled its legal requirements, that GSOC was a law-breaker.  He repeated that despite me and others here questioning him until finally he was forced to admit his mistake.  The Minister then summoned the GSOC chairman to his office to explain why the Minister and senior members of the Garda Síochána were not informed about GSOC's suspicions.  The Minister is too smart.  He knows that GSOC is not answerable to him but to the Oireachtas.  However, by sending for the chairman he actively undermined the independence and integrity of that agency.  That agency's responsibility is to police the police.  It is not that the police are bad but we know to our cost that, human nature being as it is, accountability is necessary in all associations, organisations and institutions.

 

Having spoken to the GSOC chairman, the Minister told the Dáil there was nothing there and nothing to see.  We then discovered that what the Minister had reported to the Dáil had sizeable omissions from what was sent to him in a written report.  Subsequently, on the RTE "Prime Time" programme, Mr. Kieran FitzGerald of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, said that while there may be no definitive evidence of surveillance at the offices, he could not entirely rule it out.  At the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions, Mr. FitzGerald said he suspected there may have been some form of surveillance carried out in their offices.  Later on, it emerged that the security sweeps of the GSOC offices were carried out after it appeared that a senior garda - it is believed by sections of the media that this was indeed the Commissioner - had accessed confidential information about a case which was being investigated by GSOC.  Layer upon layer has been added to this story day after day.

 

Following repeated calls by Sinn Féin and others for a fully independent inquiry into the bugging scandal, the Government did a partial about-turn a full ten days after the scandal first emerged.  Interestingly enough, it was after the publication of Sinn Féin's Private Members' business motion calling for an independent inquiry.  The Government appointed retired judge, John Cooke, to carry out a review of the various bits and pieces around.  I wish him well but it is our considered opinion that the review under Mr. Justice Cooke is not sufficient.  It falls far short of what is required to get to the bottom of this issue.

 

I am from the North and I know what bad policing is.  I lived in a police state for most of my adult life and I am proud to have played a small part in changing that.  We need to have a situation where politicians get out of policing matters.  Such matters should be administered in an accountable and fully independent way.

 

In this case, the Minister should have backed out of it.  He should have brought in the type of investigation that is allowed under the Commissions of Investigation Act.  The Minister set the terms of reference for Mr. Justice Cooke but the Minister is already at the centre of this entire controversy.  He put himself in there, although no one forced him into it.  The Minister has already asserted that there was no evidence at all that GSOC was the target of a surveillance operation.

 

In the latest episode of an increasingly worrying saga for members of the public, last week a dossier from the Garda whistleblower, Maurice McCabe, was given to the Taoiseach by the Fianna Fáil leader.  That was the right thing to do, as has been recorded.  The dossier contained very serious allegations of Garda malpractice.

 

These allegations may be totally and absolutely unfounded.  I do not know and we have refrained from making any comment on that.  Some of us have been on the receiving end of totally unfounded allegations for a very long time.  However, these allegations were not new to the Minister for Justice and Equality.  Indeed, the allegation is that he has known about them for two years.

 

Yesterday, the Government announced the appointment of a barrister to examine the claims contained in the dossier.  Yet again, in my view, that is not enough.  I have listened to what the Taoiseach said yesterday and I thought he performed well in terms of how he outlined all this.  This, however, is all in marked contrast to the mandate the Government was given when it was elected.

 

Last week, I wrote to the Taoiseach asking him to come into the Dáil to make a statement on all these issues.  As usual, the Oireachtas was bypassed by the Government.  I was able to read about what was going to happen in the Chamber in Monday morning's newspapers.  I was able to read what the Minister was going to say, and the general tenor of his approach, in last night's news and in this morning's newspapers.

 

As I said to the Taoiseach yesterday, if the Minister was not going to hand this over to an independent agency to examine it under the terms of reference which are already set up, he should have come in to this House to talk these issues out, listen to what the Opposition and other Deputies may have had to say and then come up with a position.  However, we have been hit with a fait accompli.  We were simply told that a senior counsel is going to do a scoping exercise, so the mandate of everyone here amounts to nothing.  The Government's focus is on trying to manage public opinion on these issues.

 

I was not surprised, therefore, when the Minister did not apologise because I knew in advance, as a result of reports in this morning's newspapers and on television last night, that he had no intention of doing so.  That is one way of doing business but it is not real politics.  It is the politics of spin and throwing shapes as opposed to that of making fundamental changes to the conditions in which people live and to the institutions and protocols by which we are governed.

 

I am sure members of the public are fatigued as a result of hearing about the events surrounding this matter over a protracted period.  People's mortgages are in distress, their children are in the United States or elsewhere working, some have children in hospital and others cannot gain access to services for their aged parents as a result of the crisis in the area of health.  When our parliamentary party meets, I ask my colleagues where the matters under discussion rate among people's concerns.  Despite the fact that the other issues I referred to are obviously part of the daily grind for many citizens, there is no doubt that those under discussion also matter to them. 

 

In the past five or six years people have learned a great deal about how this State has been run.  They respect public servants, including the vast majority of members of An Garda Síochána.  However, they also look to Governments to set matters right.  Any charge those in government have levelled at the individuals who preceded them in office is mirrored by the way in which they have gone about dealing with this issue.  Even though the allegations that have been made are serious, grave and hugely devastating for the families and others involved, it is the way the Government has responded to them which has caused the crisis in confidence.  It is clear - at least for now - that the Government is putting the Minister's interests above that of public confidence.  I regularly find myself asking what on earth Labour is doing in government.  I just do not know what is its function in the current Administration.

 

The reaction to the events surrounding the GSOC scandal and the penalty points affair has been entirely insufficient.  The decision to appoint a barrister to review these matters is not good enough either.  The only credible and acceptable way to achieve clarity in respect of this chaotic episode and to bring it to a conclusion is through the establishment of an independent inquiry under the Commissions of Investigations Act 2004.  I cannot for the life of me understand why the Minister will not facilitate such an inquiry.  If he is as right as he claims to be in respect of these matters, then why will he not establish an independent commission to investigate them?  If he did set up a commission, it would mean that there would be no further tit-for-tat exchanges involving himself and Deputy Martin.  It would also mean that this would not continue to be an issue of party political points scoring in this Chamber.  In addition, it would not become an issue of contention for the members of An Garda Síochána who are out patrolling and looking after our communities, our families and our security.

 

I do not understand why the Taoiseach did not come before the House yesterday in order to announce an independent inquiry.  Had he done so, he would have shown leadership and removed this matter from the realms of both party politics and politics in general.  On numerous occasions I have pointed out that what is happening in this case is symptomatic of a political culture which continues to exist in this State.  Corruption does not always involve brown envelopes filled with money.  It also involves the way in which people go about their business, cronyism, cosy relationships and operating in a bubble, and not understanding that politics must always be about the empowerment of citizens, upholding their rights and making political conditions better in order that everyone can be treated on the basis of equality.  I am of the view that we will find a cure in this regard.  The things I refer to are not natural disasters which suddenly came upon us.  They are the products of humanity.  These are things which we make and which we can unmake.  We can certainly make them better if we have the will to do so.

 

The way the Government has dealt with this matter is representative of that same old way of doing things.  It is also part of the same old culture which those in government pledged to get rid of.  That brings me to its treatment of brave people who have come forward.  I refer to those who have identified that something is wrong, who have pursued all the proper and legal ways of resolving matters and who want a light to be shone on the various issues about which they are concerned.  The people in question are not used to the focus of the media being upon them and neither are they used to public scrutiny.  Their families are certainly not used to reading about them in newspapers.  It takes very strong individuals to travel the obstacle course that has been erected.  I commend those involved in this instance on doing that.

 

The Government may only deal with its only electorate but I am of the view that it will find that widespread concern exists among the members of that electorate.  People do not want the same old failed ways of doing politics.  The Government is aware of this and that is why the parties which comprise it positioned themselves in the way they did in the most recent general election campaign.  They knew that people were tired of the activities of those who had preceded them in government.  Equally, people are going to become tired of the way in which the Government is dealing with this matter.  They want the Government to deal with issues of this nature in an open, transparent and accountable way.  The case for establishing an independent inquiry into the bugging scandal, which may or may not be a matter of substance, and the claims relating to the dossier presented by Sergeant Maurice McCabe under the Commissions of Investigations Act 2004 is unanswerable.  During his lengthy contribution, the Minister failed to provide one credible reason as to why an inquiry under the Act should not take place.  Yesterday, the Taoiseach also failed to provide a single good reason in this regard.  In fact, he opined that such a commission may well be set up because that eventuality is implicit in the context of the senior counsel's remit.

 

Not long after the Committee of Public Account's hearings on the penalty points scandal, the transcript of a conversation between the confidential recipient, Mr. Oliver Connolly, and Sergeant Maurice McCabe was read into the record of the Dáil.  We have all heard it several times.  It states: "I tell you something Maurice - and this is just personal advice to you - if Shatter thinks you're screwing him, you're finished."  One could not make it up.  What prophetic words.  We are now faced with the bizarre situation whereby, as a result of what he said about the Minister, Mr. Oliver Connolly's head has been the only one to roll in the aftermath of this series of scandals.  The Minister did not utter one word about that matter during his contribution.  He unilaterally sacked the man whom he saw fit to appoint to the position of confidential recipient.  A public statement was made and it was a case of "Sin é, that's it".  The Minister has never advanced any rationale for this decision.  Why did he sack Mr. Connolly?  What did he do wrong?  The Minister is remiss for not even mentioning this matter.  If the Government is to have any hope of restoring public confidence in the administration of justice, it must do what we have been advocating.  When Deputy Mac Lochlainn has the opportunity to put questions to the Minister on this matter, perhaps he will advance, in a scholarly and appropriate way, the reasons that he has not utilised the legislation.

 

The evidence of the Government's performance is that there is little interest in effective systems of oversight or governance.  The Minister earlier dismissed Sinn Féin's concerns on these issues.  I remind the Minister that Sinn Féin's mandate from the citizens we represent here cannot be so easily dismissed.  Our Oireachtas team is not fazed by the Minister's arrogance and we will continue to hold him to account, I hope, in a fair, but robust and reasonable way.  We support the essential role of An Garda Síochána.  We have a commitment and we commend the commitment of the overwhelming majority of gardaí who uphold the law and who look after all of us every day.  In the North - a place which may be a foreign place for the Minister - Sinn Féin has worked tirelessly to ensure justice and policing is representative of the policing in the communities it seeks to serve.  I was one of the people who was primarily involved in that and I can say that if we had not got an independent police authority, local joint policing committees, and an Ombudsman with real power, policing would not have been embraced.  The people in the North who support Sinn Féin are law-abiding people, but we did not have a police service that suited the modern needs of people.

 

Without seeking to draw any comparisons between the Garda Síochána and the old discredited RUC, it is clear that fundamental change is needed in the administration of policing and justice in this part of Ireland as well.  It is very obvious there needs to be a clear separation of Government from the Garda Síochána.  No police service, no senior police officer and no Garda Commissioner should be accountable to a politician no matter who that is.  It does not matter whether it is Dermot Ahern or Deputy Alan Shatter or Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn.  The citizens deserve a policing service which is overseen by an independent authority.  The Garda Commissioner should be fully accountable to that authority, as should joint policing committees, and all of that should be accountable to the Oireachtas.

 

Sinn Féin will soon publish its Garda Síochána (amendment) Bill 2014 and we will present our vision for change and our solution to the problems so evident over the past 18 months, namely, the penalty points debacle and the failure of senior Garda management to co-operate fully with the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission.  As I have said on previous occasions, out of these dark little periods good can come.  I commend this Bill to the Minister.  Rather than seeking to resist change - I have recorded my admiration for the Minister's reforming zeal on other issues - I ask him to embrace it.  The Minister should be in the vanguard of this change.  His first step should have been to establish independent inquiries into GSOC and whistleblower scandals as provided for under the Commissions of Investigation Act.  This has been the Minister's greatest failure.  He is not a stupid person.  It is not the allegations of misconduct by some Gardaí that has eroded public confidence, it is his and the Government's failure to deal with these matters properly, fairly and in a transparent way.  The Minister is bound to know that.

 

Basque Peace Process - Arms beyond use - An important step forward for Peace

In one part of Europe a vicious street war has led to the deaths of scores of people. The Ukraine has been convulsed by weeks of what some have described as a civil war. Efforts are currently underway to find a compromise that can bring peace. The key to these efforts is dialogue; both sides talking to each other and reaching agreement on a political way forward.

At the other end of the continent an International Verification Committee has confirmed that ETA has taken the first steps toward complete disarmament. At a press conference in Bilbao on Friday the Verification Committee confirmed that in January it oversaw the putting beyond operational use of an amount of arms, explosives and ammunition by ETA. It described this as a ‘hugely important step’.

I very much welcome this historic initiative by ETA. It is a major advance in the Basque peace process.

In both places – the Ukraine and in the Basque country - there is a clear desire for peace. In the Ukraine, European Foreign Ministers have been involved in brokering a peace deal. Europe holds its breath in the hope that it will work.

In the Basque country the dialogue for peace has been largely one-sided. The people of the Basque country, represented by a range of political parties and civic organisations, have been involved in recent years in a substantial dialogue around building a peace process. Their objective has been to bring an end to violence while creating the conditions for democratic and peaceful political change, including independence.

They took as their model the Irish peace process. Consequently, myself and other Sinn Féin leaders have travelled regularly to the Basque country to participate in this debate and to encourage its development. The strategy that has emerged, based largely on language and principles agreed here, commits Basque activists to using ‘exclusively political and democratic means’ to advance their political objectives. It seeks to advance political change ‘in a complete absence of violence and without interference’ and ‘conducted in accordance with the Mitchell Principles.’ And its political goal is to achieve a ‘stable and lasting peace in the Basque country’.

Making peace is not easy. It is especially challenging and difficult in the midst of violent upheaval. In the Ukraine it would appear that there is a general desire to step back from the brink and find a political solution to the political differences that exist. That takes real courage. But key to making any progress has been dialogue. A refusal to talk would condemn the Ukraine to greater violence.

The Spanish government needs to talk. Making peace is very challenging but I am confident that with political will the government in Madrid could engage positively.

Some will continue to argue that a policy of arrests and the imprisonment of political opponents is the only way. That didn’t work in Ireland. I believe this is the wrong approach. It runs counter to Nelson Mandela’s oft quoted mantra that to make peace we have to make friends with our enemy. That cannot be done in the absence of a dialogue. It cannot be done in the absence of respect for the rights of citizens to vote for elected representatives of their choice. So the responsibility of political leaders is to lead.

In this context the continued imprisonment of Arnaldo Otegi (Secretary General of SORTU) makes no sense and is deeply unhelpful. Arnaldo is a Basque leader totally committed to the peace process and to democratic and peaceful methods of politics.

The Spanish government also needs to remove bad laws which have no place in a peace process and which are an impediment to dealing with the issue of arms. This has become an issue following the decision on Saturday to bring the Verification Committee in front of a Spanish court.

Nor is the policy of dispersal of Basque prisoners from prisons close to their families conducive to the peace process.

Despite these and other problems the Basque people have repeatedly demonstrated in elections and on the streets their support for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in that region. The initiative taken by ETA and the belief that this is a process that will lead to complete disarmament is enormously significant. It is an opportunity that must not be squandered.

I appeal to the Spanish and French governments to respond positively to the announcement by the Verification Committee. The people have long historic links with the people of Spain, France and the Basque country. Our friendship goes back many centuries. The Spanish and French governments have a key role to play in promoting a process of dialogue that can advance the goal of a just and lasting peace in the Basque Country.

Bugging and surveillance – a cause for concern

Bug found in car used by Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness

 

Bugging devices in all shapes and forms, tracking devices to monitor movement, and remote controlled surveillance cameras were all an integral part of the British government’s war in the north. Over the years they were found in the homes of republican activists, under floor boards and cabinets, attached to wooden beams in attics, and hidden in the insides of cars.

In the years since the war ended the surveillance war has continued. It has become ever more sophisticated. Now according to some reports they can even bug your clothes. The information released by whistleblower Edward Snowden is evidence of the extent to which states and their agencies will go to spy on their citizens and on their allies, as well as their enemies. It’s all about information and information is power.

The surveillance technology involved today reads like science fiction but it is real not imagined and very effective, and most times you don’t know that it is there.

I remember an An Phoblact story one surveillance camera which had been found in a field over-looking a farm and road. It was camouflaged to look exactly like the branch of a tree. It was attached to another branch that contained a battery pack and was linked to a remote control transmitter. It also had, what was described as a thumper – a device to monitor vibrations in the ground in order to alert its controllers of its possible discovery.

In late 1999 a car used by Martin McGuinness and I was found to have been bugged and to have a tracking device attached. The highly sophisticated surveillance device was skillfully built into the body of the car in such a way as to make it impossible for anyone carrying out repairs on the vehicle to find the device. It was built to the specifications of the car and was colour coded to the car. 

On an another occasion a colleague who worked with me in my west Belfast office discovered a listening device in her attic. Gerry Kelly found one made to resemble a long piece of wood screwed to beams under his floor boards in his upstairs landing. It was designed to pick up conversations in the living room, kitchen and bedrooms.

Connolly House bug

In September 2004 a listening device was found in Connolly House, the Sinn Féin headquarters in west Belfast. At the time we were involved in a particularly serious difficult with the British government covering the policing issue and the possibility of persuading the DUP to engage with the peace process. Most of our negotiating meetings were held in safe houses, where the risk of surveillance was less.

The listening device was hidden inside what appeared to be a plank and was designed to commence transmitting if the front door of the office was opened. The British spooks who accessed the building planted it in the ceiling above the front office, which was then being used as a meeting room. It allowed the Brits to listen to conversations in the downstairs and upstairs rooms.

Several days after its discovery we brought the main portion of it to the negotiations in Leeds Castle in Kent and I handed it back to Tony Blair having once been deserted by Martin McGuinness who declared to the British Prime Minister that I was on my own. Mr. Blair was very bemused by the entire episode and as he examined the device he asked in a whisper ‘is it on?’

A few months later in January 2005 Eliza Manningham-Butler the head of MI5 admitted that her spooks were responsible for planting the bug. We eventually put part of the Connolly house bug up for sale on ebay where it raised several thousand dollars. 

The discovery of bugging devices was always a cause of concern. The British were obviously seeking to gain advantage in the negotiations by trying to get an insight into our political strategy. But there were other even more serious implications in the use of surveillance. 

Brian Nelson was a British intelligence agent. He was planted in the UDA and became the person responsible for providing the death squads with photographs and intelligence information on the movement of those it planned to kill. Much of his information and that provided to the UVF, LVF and other loyalist gangs, came from surveillance carried out by the British state, including through covert surveillance.

Roseann Mallon

Roseann Mallon was a 76 year old pensioner who was shot and killed when a unionist death squad from the UVF opened fire on her home at Cullenrammer Road, Dungannon in May 1974. It subsequently transpired that a British Army surveillance camera was filming the house. The camera was uncovered several months later. For almost twenty years the holding of the inquest was obstructed by the RUC and PSNI. Last November it emerged that the tapes had been wiped.

I was reminded of these events because of the current controversy raging over the alleged bugging of the office of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. GSOC has responsibility for oversight of the Garda.

The government has emphasised that there is no evidence of surveillance but the Commission said that the possibility of there being some benign explanation for some electronic anomalies found when they did a sweep of their office was ‘remote to zero.’

The handling of the issue by the government has been appalling and the Taoiseach and Minister for Justice in particular have succeeded in undermining the independence and integrity of GSOC. The Minister called in the Ombudsman when the story first appeared in a Sunday newspaper on Sunday February 9^th. The Taoiseach criticised GSOC for not telling the Minister for Justice about their concerns. He claimed that the Ombudsman was required to report to the Minister under Section 80 para 5 of the Garda Siochána Act of 2005. Not true.

I challenged the Taoiseach on this several times however the continued misquoting of the Act by him, and the manner in which GSOC was hauled before the Minister gave the impression that the Ombudsman broke the law and did something wrong. The victim became the villain. This government behaviour has undermined the independence and integrity of GSOC.

The bugging controversy has also highlighted the dysfunctional relationship between GSOC, the Garda Commissioner and the Justice Minister and reveals a government that has not fully embraced the need for independent oversight of state agencies or institutions despite the fact that recent history has shown that it is the absence of such oversight which has been at the root of many of the scandals which have emerged recently.

The Irish experience of British surveillance strategies in the north is evidence that state surveillance is a fact of life. It has existed since spy organisations were first established. The methodology and technology has changed but the purpose has not – the gathering of intelligence to seek advantage.

Was the GSOC under electronic surveillance? There is enough doubt and sufficient evidence to warrant an independent inquiry to ascertain the truth and to examine also the government’s response to the initial revelations.