Opposition increases pressure in Molloy affair

The Opposition has stepped up pressure on the Government over the Naughton rape case and the role of the Minister for Justice in particular.

Minister O’Donoghue must also explain how things have reached a point where he is presiding over a department in which the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing and the person in charge is suffering from political amnesia. Mr Alan Shatter

Fine Gael claimed this morning Mr O’Donoghue has still failed to answer whether he signed the nine letters sent to Mr Bobby Molloy in his name.

"He was deliberately evasive during his interview on Morning Irelandtoday," Fine Gael justice spokesman Mr Alan Shatter said of Mr O'Donoghue. Mr Shatter called for the original letters to be published.

"Minister O’Donoghue must also explain how things have reached a point where he is presiding over a department in which the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing and the person in charge is suffering from political amnesia," he said.

Mr Shatter also called for the Tánaiste, Ms Mary Harney, to clarify how much she knew about the correspondence between the two Ministers before defending Mr Molloy on Tuesday.

Mr Michael Noonan

Party leader Mr Michael Noonan demanded the full file of the Naughton case held in Mr Molloy's office should be made public, as well as any relevant documents in other government departments.

Labour’s justice spokesman, Mr Brendan Howlin, also called for full disclosure of all contact between the two Departments, including "personal" material Mr O’Donoghue said last night he would not publish.

"The public is entitled to the full story, not the partial version that is being prised out in dribs and drabs from the Minister for Justice," he said.

Mr Howlin called in particular for clarification of a passage in one of the letters that was blacked out in the version released to the public. "The longer this case goes on, the more serious and sinister the whole affair becomes," he said.

The Green Party also called for a statement from the Progressive Democrats on the extent of their involvment in the matter.

Mr John Gormley described it as "inconceivable" that Ms Harney in particular should not have been made aware of the correspondence before insisting Mr Molloy did not have to resign.

The PDs' reputation for probity in public life is "in tatters", he said.

Mr Gormley added that a "great debt" was owed to Justice Philip O’Sullivan for "exposing this political interference in the judicial process".