A PROMINENT member of a review group appointed to advise the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, on reform of the Garda will today endorse Fianna Fail's "zero tolerance" scheme.
Mr John Timoney, former deputy commissioner of the New York police, is to appear at a press conference in Dublin this morning with the Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern.
The move is a significant publicity coup for Fianna Fail, as Mr Timoney has been working directly for Mr Bruton for the past eight months. It represents an embarrassment for the Taoiseach who had not expected any members of the review group to emerge in public support of the policies of the main Opposition party.
It is understood there was consternation among Mr Bruton's closest supporters when they heard that Mr Timoney had agreed to appear publicly with Mr Ahern, in what appears to have been a hastily-organised event.
Mr Timoney was flying into Dublin last night to prepare for this morning's press conference at the Clarence Hotel. Mr John O'Donoghue, the Fianna Fail justice spokesman, has meanwhile cancelled his appearance this morning at an election event in his Kerry South constituency in order to attend the press conference.
Mr Timoney was one of a number of people appointed by the Government to review the performance and structures of the Garda in the wake of the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin last June. They formed the Strategic Management Initiative (SMI) group, and were charged with reporting directly to Mr Bruton on ways to improve the Garda.
As one of the earliest practitioners of "zero tolerance" policing(a policy which purports to let no offence go unpunished), Mr Timoney was known to favour the Fianna Fail stance, but his public appearance at the height of an election campaign has come as a surprise.
One of his first suggestions was arming all gardai, an idea which the review group quickly dismissed. More recently, he raised eyebrows when he was reported in a New York newspaper as saying his advice on bow to improve policing in the Republic had been ignored by the Irish authorities.
The SMI group has completed its report for the Taoiseach, but it has yet to be officially published. Lab our and Democratic Left have already indicated they do not favour some of its suggestions, such as expanding police detention powers, although Mr Bruton has said they arc now part of Fine Gael policy.