WHAT THE KEY EMAIL REVEALS
THE key email at the centre of this crisis was uncovered this week by news site Broadsheet.ie. A redacted version had earlier been released by Frances Fitzgerald, but critical elements were not apparent as the email chain – with the headers which reveal t
Christopher Quattrociocchi is Private Secretary to Frances Fitzgerald. At 5.04pm on May 15, 2015 he forwards, as requested, the email he received seven minutes prior, to three people, including his boss, the then-justice minister Frances Fitzgerald. The three recipients of the forwarded email are: Minister Fitzgerald and her special advisers, William Lavelle, who is now a Fine Gael councillor for South Dublin City Council, and Marion Mannion, who still works with the minister. This means her political team were informed at the same time as the Minister. This was not revealed by the Taoiseach or Tánaiste this week. Michael Flahive is a Department of Justice (DoJ) Assistant Secretary. He is the official referred to this week by Ms Fitzgerald. She says he told her this week that he was passing on the details of the call for her information. He sends the email to Mr Quattrociocchi, the normal procedure for an official to contact a minister. He also sends it to three top DoJ officials, including the Secretary General. The original email shows the DoJ Sec. Gen. Office Assistant Secretary, Ken O’Leary, and Principal Officer (Policing) Martin Power, were all informed at the same time. This means the civil service hierarchy in charge of policing are all made aware of the email. This fact was not revealed by either the Taoiseach or the Tánaiste this week. The subject line reads ‘Commission of Investigation’. Seeing as it is so clearly labelled, questions remain why it wasn’t forwarded to the Charleton Inquiry as a matter of course. A quick search should have discovered it. Richard Barrett was then Advisory Counsel in the Attorney General’s Office – he’s now Deputy Director General there. He spoke with Mr Flahive to make the Department of Justice aware of the legal strategy. Crucially, he is not part of the exchanges on the legal strategy and is effectively reporting back from the Commission to the State. Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty has argued this week that the email mentions the allegations in a vague way. Crucially, this section of the email goes into a lot of detail about the allegations, without detailing their specific nature. It details that the DPP directed no prosecution, and that it had been considered by a previous review – the Independent Review Mechanism (IRM) – that the Commission might be charged with looking into the allegation, but ultimately wasn’t. It’s hard to conclude this is a vague reference, and also suggests the issue may have been previously raised in the context of the IRM. Here the email clearly indicates the issue has been raised between lawyers. The issue has not been put to crossexamination. This is another key question, as it is one of the ways the Dáil was misled by the Taoiseach. Had this email been produced before Mr Varadkar answered the oral questions in the Dáil, he would definitely not have said what he said either on November 14 or 15. Hence the decision not to tell him by Minister Charlie Flanagan is baffling. The Tánaiste this week insisted she did not recall the email or its contents, saying she was reminded of its existence by the Department on November 16 last. She stressed the email advised her she had no function in this regard. But the final paragraph confirms she was basing this on the opinion of an assistant secretary and an official of the AG’s office. Questions would have to be asked why she didn’t seek further advice and involve the AG directly as has been done since. This would have given her political cover, if the email were ever to emerge.