JUSTICE MINISTER SIMON Harris has urged all parties to vote to renew the mandate for the Special Criminal Court over the summer months.
The Justice Minister was speaking during the Dáil’s Statements on Organised Crime, which was held following Monday’s Special Criminal Court judgement on the Regency Hotel shooting.
Speaking in the Dáil, Harris took aim at Sinn Féin and said that they “abscond” when they are due to make the decision.
While Harris did not mention Sinn Féin by name when making the reference, the party have abstained on recent votes to renew the Special Criminal Court.
“Sadly, there are political parties in this house, some of them as far as being government, but who do abscond when it comes to taking this tough decision on an annual basis,” Harris said.
“They walk out, they abstain. Now is the time for clarity on these matters.
“I think it is absolutely essential that this House, in a few weeks, reaffirms its support for the Special Criminal Court and that people clarify their positions in relation to this.”
During their allotted speaking slots, Sinn Féin TDs did not address the party’s position on the Special Criminal Court, with Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd calling for the party to clarify its position.
The party dropped its outright opposition to the non-jury court in late 2021, when it acknowledged that such courts may be needed in “exceptional circumstances”.
However, the party has not yet voted in favour of the Special Criminal Court since dropping its opposition. It had previously voted against the renewal of the court until 2020, when it abstained for the first time.
One Fine Gael TD, Colm Brophy, was critical of both Sinn Féin and Mary Lou McDonald for allowing Jonathan Dowdall to be a member and run to be an elected representative.
After representing the party on Dublin City Council from May 2014 to September 2015. Dowdall resigned citing health reasons. However, he was later arrested and convicted for false imprisonment and threats to kill.
He was also charged with the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in 2016, before pleading guilty to facilitating the killing.
Brophy’s comments come just days after Judge Tara Burns delivered the Regency shooting verdict.
“There are many serious questions unanswered by Deputy McDonald and her political protégé turned gangland torturer,” Brophy said.
In his speech, Brophy referenced a 2014 article on The Journal, which reported that Dowdall would be remaining in Sinn Féin following his resignation as a councillor.
The article quoted Dowdall, who said that he was “delighted” to be remaining in Sinn Féin and that it followed discussions with party figures. In particular, Dowdall said that he received “total support” from then-deputy leader McDonald and that he admired her.
“These reports have never been disputed by Sinn Féin,” Brophy said, before raising a series of questions including whether or not McDonald had pressured Dowdall into remaining in Sinn Féin.
In response to questioning, McDonald said that Dowdall had “no business in Sinn Féin” and that he should never have been in the party.
McDonald told the Dáil that he had only been a member of the party for two years, between 2013 and 2015, with his criminality only being discovered in March 2016.
She added that she first met him before the 2011 General Election and that she knew him as a “family man” who was running a successful electrical business.
“He was a north inner city kid who had worked really hard and who had done really well,” McDonald said.
“We now know that this was not the real Jonathan Dowdall. A man who would go on to commit heinous crime, and he and he alone is responsible for his actions. He has been tried. He has been convicted before the courts.
“If I had known for a second what he would be capable of, what he would go on to do, he wouldn’t have been near me. He wouldn’t have been near Sinn Féin and he certainly would not have been running for public office.
“I would not tolerate that.”
However, after McDonald’s contribution Brophy interjected and sought additional answers from the Sinn Féin leader, before Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl reiterated that it was just statements and not questions.
There was some criticism of the back and forth, with Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon saying that he didn’t want to see the Dáil devolve into “Westministerism” and that he did not have any plans to settle scores within the chamber.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say