the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell. McDowell had been involved in one of the regular scrapes that have marked his time in office, and Smyth, an old mate of McDowell's whose journalism has benefited from his relationship with the minister, was keen to offer his thoughts on a man he described as "a saint in the latter-day church of liberal intellectuals."

"McDowell's strength is also his Achilles Heel, " Smyth wrote. "A politician driven by principle and moral certainty is susceptible to charges of arrogance. And being right most of the time is not an endearing quality to others who make occasional mistakes. Oratorical skills honed in the Four Courts have made McDowell one of the handful of speakers worth listening to in the Dailf And many of his adversaries are surprised to find him good company in the bar and helpful in his office."

In case you missed the fact that Smyth thought that McDowell was an all-round good egg, he included a quote from a PD source. "The parliamentary party is in awe of him when he addresses them, " the source said. "He is very, very clever and they listen very, very carefully when he has something to say."

Recent rumblings from the PDs suggest that much of the parliamentary party isn't so much in awe of McDowell as in despair. But that's another story. If you were to follow McDowell's career through the writings of Sam Smyth, in this newspaper and in others, you'd rapidly come to the conclusion that he was some misunderstood genius, an "ideological powerhouse" (as Smyth once called him in the Sunday Tribune) instead of the grubby populist that his actions and words often show him to be.

One thing you can't say about McDowell, however, is that he bites the hand that feeds him. Over the years, Smyth has been rewarded for his ministerial belly-tickling with a series of scoops, the latest of which came on Friday when he published a leaked story from the Department of Justice in relation to the new immigration bill.

If that sounds like sour grapes, it isn't. Smyth has been a terrific journalist and has broken a series of great stories, many of which have been more than one-day-wonders, and the implications of which have resonated for years. But in recent times, his relationship with McDowell and a collection of stories that could only have been sourced from the minister's office have combined to leave him looking less than a campaigner for accountability than a willing handmaiden of power.

In his war with the outside world, McDowell has chosen the media as his favourite battleground, and Smyth as his top general. When he wanted to undermine the Centre for Public Inquiry, an entirely legitimate organisation set up to do the kind of work Sam Smyth used to do, McDowell leaked what purported to be a bogus passport application made by Frank Connolly, the centre's then executive director. The leak was given to Smyth.

When McDowell was taking political heat over corruption among Donegal gardai, Smyth came up with a story that Fine Gael's Nora Owen, one of McDowell's predecessors, had been told by private detective Billy Flynn in 1997 about garda mistreatment of alleged suspects. McDowell had personally received the information from Flynn shortly before Smyth's story was published.

When the Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny asked the Department of Justice under the Freedom of Information Act for information about births to non-nationals in Ireland's maternity hospitals, Smyth happened to get the info first.

According to his subsequent story, the information "fully support[s] Mr McDowell's claim that Dublin maternity hospitals were urgently and deeply concerned about the increasing numbers of pregnant non-national women turning up to give birth."

A few months ago, the businessman Philip Flynn accused McDowell of trying to criminalise him through a "concerted media" campaign which followed the Northern Bank robbery of December 2004. Amongst the many stories which had appeared was one which suggested that Flynn was "linked to a Cork-based finance company at the centre of the investigation" into money laundering. The story was written by Sam Smyth. A file has since been sent to the DPP in relation to that investigation. Phil Flynn does not feature in it.

By coincidence, the fourth report of the Inspector of Prisons, Dermot Kinlen, which includes scathing criticism of Michael McDowell, appeared in Friday's papers. McDowell would have known that his attitude and the attitude of some of his officials to prison reform would be described in the report as "fascist and frightening." He would have known, too, that his attitude towards the Inspector of Prisons would be described as "outrageous." As it happened, two prisoners died in Mountjoy in the 24 hours before the Inspector's report was published. Just as well then that Sam Smyth's story on the immigration bill gave us something else to talk about.

The irony of McDowell being described as "fascist" on the day that his department leaked proposals to make non EU-nationals carry identity cards would make an entire column in itself. But for the moment, we'll stay focused on his use of the media to deflect criticism, demonise opponents and fight the next election for him.

It's clear, for example, that immigration will be a major topic in the 2007 election campaign. It seems too that there is no low to which McDowell and his colleagues will not stoop in order to pander to people's genuine insecurities about, or ignorant hatred of, immigrants and asylum seekers. (There may be no low to which the two main opposition parties will not sink either, which is worrying. ) This new immigration bill is the first step in that campaign. McDowell could have called a press conference last week and defended his proposals in front of inquisitive journalists, but instead had them leaked to a single reporter, therefore avoiding debate. Still, if he wants to talk, there's at least one forum which will allow him to explain himself . . . Today FM's Sunday Supplement. Its presenter, Sam Smyth, is a most welcoming host.