McDowell brands FG's Bruton the 'Dr Goebbels of propaganda'
Tuesday March 21 2006
The row
JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell yesterday compared Fine Gael's deputy leader Richard Bruton to notorious Nazi Joseph Goebbels, writes Senan Molony.
Mr McDowell bitterly criticised Mr Bruton for highlighting a year-on-year increase of just two officers in Garda numbers in Dublin.
Mr McDowell rounded on mild-mannered Mr Bruton over the disputed garda figures, saying he resembled "a kind of a postgraduate student floating around" the Dail.
He accused the former Taoiseach's brother of living in an ivory tower and said he was peddling figures that were "hypocritical, misleading and a sham con-job".
Mr McDowell said: "Deputy Bruton is knee-high to me in terms of anything he has ever managed to do for this country. Does anyone remember anything achieved by Deputy Bruton or Deputy Enda Kenny when they were in office?"
Mr Bruton "is the Dr Goebbels of propaganda, and the figures that I am issuing prove conclusively that what he is saying is rubbish", Mr McDowell said. Admitting he was very angry, he called on Mr Bruton and his party leader to "give up this sham battle, and get back to truth".
The Rainbow Government had run down the garda numbers, cancelled the prison building programme and had the revolving door in the country's jails "spinning as never before", with 20pc of prisoners out on the street because there were no cells for them, he said.
But Mr Bruton accused him of being "hysterical" in his reaction to official statistics and "preening" about his own achievements.
He said Mr McDowell's personalised attack over garda manpower figures was "bombast and bluster" and the minister's standard response when facts and figures don't suit him.
"The minister doesn't like it when the facts don't support his inflated perception of himself. Yesterday, I published the facts - pure and simple.
"Rather than face these, the minister tried to distract attention, cause a political row and even personally attack me." He accused Mr McDowell of "blowing a gasket" and "ranting", but said none of this helped to get more gardai on the beat.
'Deputy Bruton is knee-high to me in terms of anything he has ever managed to do for this country. Does anyone remember anything achieved by (him) in office?'
The minister had tried to resurrect historical data, looking at the Rainbow Government's record on crime to try and make his own record look better; but this defence offered little comfort as garda numbers had barely kept pace with population growth over the past 10 years.
"These are the issues the minister should be blowing a gasket about, not the fact that his own department has confirmed what the ordinary voter knows - that we do not have the Garda presence on our streets that we were promised or that is clearly needed."
"An eruption at the Cabinet table from the minister on these issues is something that we would all welcome."
