Howlin refuses to name his source

Former Labour Party deputy leader Brendan Howlin has declined to confirm or deny a report that senior counsel Martin Giblin was the person who passed information to him that led to the establishment of the Morris tribunal into Garda corruption.

Mr Giblin, who represented the McBrearty family at the centre of the Morris tribunal, had gone to the tribunal more than two years ago to identify himself as the source of the information, according to a report in the Irish Independent.

The information alleged that evidence had been planted to secure convictions in Co Donegal.

The tribunal however pursued Mr Howlin, and appealed a High Court decision in Mr Howlin's favour. The Wexford TD and Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins, who also received the information, had taken proceedings challenging orders by the tribunal for discovery of documents. In December the Supreme Court decided that Mr Howlin could not withhold his phone record from June 25th, 2000, the date he received information in a phone call with his source.

Mr Giblin was unavailable yesterday for comment. Mr Howlin said he had maintained the confidentiality of his source for five years and could not alter his position until he had spoken to a number of parties.

He reiterated that his source had passed on the information on the basis of confidentiality.

Asked his view on the claim that the tribunal had pursued the issue through the courts even though they already knew the source of the information, Mr Howlin said "that is a very important and interesting question".

A spokesman for the Department of Justice, which has responsibility for tribunals, said only that the tribunals were independent in their functioning and the department had no comment.

Mr Howlin, now Labour's spokesman on enterprise, trade and employment, said he had always maintained that his own source was "robust". He said that "the protection of my private papers is guaranteed under Article 15.10 of the Constitution". This protection had not previously been tested and the Supreme Court's decision was a technical one which should be dealt with early in the new term by the Dáil.

This would be done, he said, by giving powers to the committee on procedure and privileges to protect the privacy of Oireachtas members' papers, which would include documents like telephone records.

He said that a fundamental issue was at stake, the erosion of the right to ensure the confidentiality of such disclosures to Oireachtas members where they were clearly in the public interest. There was a fundamental right to reveal information in the public interest without putting them "under the hazard".

Mr Giblin is an expert in criminal law and represented Frank McBrearty jnr and his cousin Mark McConnell who were questioned over the killing of Richie Barron. He also negotiated a settlement for Mr McBrearty in his claim against the State.