Official Secrets Act signing sparked Foreign Affairs rift

A direction issued under the Official Secrets Act by Mr Padraic MacKernan, Secretary-General of the Department of Foreign Affairs, led to the breakdown in relations between him and the Minister almost a year ago.

On the instructions of the Taoiseach, Mr MacKernan signed the direction to assist gardai in their inquiries into Foreign Affairs documents leaked during the presidential election campaign. It was impossible to arrange for Mr Andrews to sign the direction at short notice at the time, Garda sources say.

The Minister took the view that Mr MacKernan had usurped his authority by signing the direction.

Two sets of leaked Foreign Affairs documents were the subject of the Garda investigation ordered by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, in the wake of President McAleese's election.

One set related to conversations between an official, Ms Dymphna Hayes, and Prof McAleese about the political situation in Northern Ireland and her opinion of Sinn Fein's prospects in the forthcoming elections. The second involved a batch of documents on Anglo-Irish meetings, which the Sunday Independent declined to publish.

Gardai told the Attorney General's Office they needed a direction, under the Official Secrets Act to procure some of the leaked documents as evidence for possible proceedings.

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, with the knowledge of the Attorney General, Mr David Byrne, asked for a formal direction to be drawn up by the Department of Foreign Affairs. In the Minister's absence, the Secretary-General, Mr MacKernan, had the statutory authority to sign such a direction. He was instructed to do so by Mr Ahern.

When Mr Andrews was informed the following day that the direction had been issued, he accused Mr MacKernan of usurping his authority. The Irish Times has reliably learned that good relations between the Minister and the Secretary-General were never restored following this incident.

Meanwhile, new information has also come to light about the procedures used to secure the appointment of one of the three persons promoted by ministerial directive by Mr Andrews. The Second Secretary in the Department, Mr Dermot Gallagher, tried in the Department's Management Advisory Committee (MAC) to secure the promotion of Mr Niall Holohan as Counsellor. The move was rejected by the MAC. The Minister subsequently issued a written direction to effect the promotion.

The Taoiseach will draw upon his experience as a peace-broker in an attempt to restore a working relationship between the two next week.

He plans to meet Mr Andrews and Mr MacKernan on the Minister's return next Thursday from Canada, where is accompanying President McAleese on part of her two-week visit. Mr Ahern said in an RTE interview yesterday: "We are all grown men and I think we just have to make it work".

Playing down the differences between the two men, he said the issue was that they had an "excellent" Minister for Foreign Affairs and a Secretary-General in that Department "who is working away".

"There's two sides of that story and I know both sides, but I think it's a matter of everyone working together rather than pointing out the both sides and if there's right on both sides there will also be wrong", the Taoiseach said.

He described the Tanaiste's role in the promotions controversy as "minimal" and defended the Minister's actions. As the Minister had told the Dail, Mr Ahern said, "you know he is the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is not a rubber stamp to accept anything that comes down to him".