As Jonathan Dowdall faces a future in the Witness Security Programme, how does it work and who has been placed in it?

Jonathan Dowdall leaving the Special Criminal Court with father Patrick Dowdall. Photo: Collins Courts

Robin Schiller

October 03 2022 02:52 PM

The State's secretive programme for protected witnesses that Jonathan Dowdall could find himself in was set up 25 years ago to deal with the rising threat of gangland crime.

The Special Criminal Court today heard that the ex-Sinn Féin councillor is willing to testify in the upcoming Regency murder trial and has given a statement which potentially "implicates another person or persons".

The threat against him is currently categorised as "very severe" and last week he consented to being taken into protective custody where he and his extended family remain.

Armed gardaí flanked Dowdall and his father Patrick (65) as they were taken to and from court through a secure entrance on Monday.

The former politician will now be assessed for inclusion in the State's Witness Security Programme (WSP) which would provide a more formal and long-term security arrangements for him.

The programme operates at different levels, the maximum of which involves a person being resettled abroad and provided with a new identity.

The court heard that entering this programme would be an "informed decision" that Jonathan Dowdall has to make.

It has been in operation since 1997 and has been criticised for not being governed by any legislation and being entirely under the remit of gardaí.

The WSP is controlled by An Garda's Crime and Security branch and is run by the Special Detective Unit, its operational wing.

It was introduced after the murder of Sunday Independent journalist Veronica Guerin and has since been openly criticised by judges and a former justice minister.

Charles Bowden and Russell Warren both testified as protected witnesses against John Gilligan over the murder of Ms Guerin, which ultimately Gilligan was acquitted of. Both witnesses were later relocated overseas under assumed identities.

In another case in 2011, a Crumlin man who gave evidence against four former criminal associates became a state witness and entered the programme along with members of his family.

A contract was put on the life of Joseph O'Brien after he gave evidence in the murder trial of John 'Champagne' Carroll, and he later moved to a different country.

In 2019 the State spent just €200,000 on the highly secretive programme despite being allocated a budget of €1.2m.

Four years ago, €653,000 was spent on the WSP, compared with €800,000 in 2017, while in 2016 more money was spent on the programme than in any other year since 2006, when €1.32m was used.

Jonathan Dowdall and his father will be sentenced on October 17.

By the admission of his own counsel, the consequences of Jonathan Dowdall making a statement will prove "pretty grim" and that his life is now effectively over.