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THE Department of Justice has refused a Freedom of Information request to release the photograph accompanying the forged passport application which minister Michael McDowell claims Frank Connolly used to obtain documents to travel to Colombia on IRA activities The FOI Section of the Justice Department last week turned down a request from the Sunday Tribune for the photograph accompanying the controversial passport application. The matter has been appealed to the Information Commissioner, Emily O'Reilly.
In a related matter, it has emerged this weekend that no written record exists in McDowell's department of any written or verbal request from journalist Sam Smyth for the original passport application.
McDowell previously said he personally passed the information to Smyth following receipt of an FOI request.
Under rules introduced by the Fianna Fail-PD government, all FOI requests must be accompanied by a 15 cheque payment before the application will be accepted by a designated FOI Section and then processed by civil servants.
The embarrassing information emerged following a FOI request from TG4 for access to documents relating to the Smyth application. The controversy led the US backers of Connolly's Centre for Public Inquiry to withdraw funding for the independent corruption watchdog.
Opposition parties will next week focus on the likelihood that the passport application was, in fact, deliberately leaked rather that formally released under the FOI Act.
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YOU ARE HERE: 19 March 2007 / tribune.ie / 2006 / 03 / 05
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