Outspoken? No, Leo still sticks by Cabinet cronies
THE Taoiseach has insinuated that he doesn’t trust Garda witnesses to tell the truth under oath in court – but he has full confidence in the Garda Commissioner. Maybe Leo Varadkar was talking out of both sides of his mouth. Or perhaps the Fine Gael leader was recalling writer F Scott Fitzgerald’s essay, The Crack-Up: ‘The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.’
However, there is no highfalutin quote to cover Junior Minister Regina Doherty, who allegedly abused her authority when gardaí had to do the job of private detectives by tracking down and warning off a persistent critic.
There are also suspicions that Minister Simon Coveney delayed a story alleging he had put pressure on an Air Corps pilot to fly him to Cork, when the pilot was concerned about fog.
And who can forget Minister Dara Murphy hailing a Garda car to take him the 200k from Cork to Dublin Airport, when his own car broke down in 2015?
IS THIS evidence of a pattern of arrogance leading to abuse of privilege for Fine Gael ministers in their relations with gardaí and other State employees? And did the gardaí then go the extra mile to facilitate ministers at a time when the force was facing serious questions about whistleblowers?
Mr Varadkar had clearly prepared his controversial position on Garda evidence at the Jobstown trial for his first major interview with RTÉ’s Prime Time on Thursday night.
He may have said that he doesn’t think a public inquiry is needed but he did open the door for one and will find it difficult to shut it now.
And the Garda Representative Association then threw fuel on the fire by agreeing that their members have a credibility problem.
There is much about Jobstown that was unsatisfactory, beginning with the failure in policing that kept Ms Burton and her adviser marooned in a sea of angry protesters for hours.
Then the DPP chose to bring charges of false imprisonment rather than offences usually associated with unruly and ugly public protests.
Yes, some gardaí contradicted each other’s evidence, but the usual complaint about Garda witnesses is that they collude to tell exactly the same story.
I don’t know where the Taoiseach hopes to go with just falling short of calling Garda witnesses liars, and I’m not sure Mr Varadkar knows either.
However, I do want to know more about the gardaí treating Regina Doherty as a damsel in distress when she complained about being attacked on social media.
I’m told that when members of the public approach the gardaí, complaining about posts on social media, they are usually advised to retain a solicitor and sort out the problem in a civil legal action.
But in this case detectives went to some lengths to track down the woman Ms Doherty complained about, and cautioned her at Dublin Airport.
So, while it appears that Mr Coveney refused to acknowledge or comment on his alleged bullying of an Air Corp pilot – thus keeping it out of the media during the race for the leadership of Fine Gael – the Taoiseach is 100% behind his party’s deputy leader.
And while Mr Varadkar did not trouble Ms Doherty to ask about the details of her complaint, be sure he will back her.
Business as usual in Government Buildings.
EARLIER generations had an escape hatch to Britain or the US when crises paralysed hapless Irish governments.
But bungling PM Theresa May’s performance over Brexit in London and President Trump’s bizarre behaviour in Washington has seriously curtailed our options for lean times.
If Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and his ilk fail in Dublin, Toronto will be the first stop for transatlantic emigrants. Moving to Britain is likely to become a far less attractive alternative when Brexit takes hold.
Varadkar’s Prime Time remarks about the gardaí and whether they can be trusted will only add to the instability at home.
The increasing volatility in Irish politics should remind the Taoiseach of Edmund Burke’s warning about France at the time of its revolution: ‘Rage and frenzy will pull down more in a half hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years.’