Independent Newspapers and the Centre for Public Inquiry

The Sunday Independent and Irish Independent have run a series of stories undermining the CPI and it members.

The weekend of the Centre for Public Iinquiry's (CPI) launch (6 February), the Sunday Independent ran a story headlined "Gardaí probe new watchdog boss Connolly", in relation to allegations that he travelled to Colombia on a false passport in 2001.

On 12 June, the Sunday Independent reported extensively the comments made in the House of Lords by the unionist peer John Laird about the CPI, under the headline "Ask Connolly about his Colombia trip, Mr Flood". The article quoted Laird as saying Frank Connolly was one of Phil Flynn's "principal allies... well-known to the police in many countries".

On 19 June, the Sunday Independent followed up this story with one headlined "'Connolly couriered FARC's €2.6M'". This story reported further comments by John Laird under privilege in the House of Lords that the CPI was "widely believed to be Sinn Féin's intelligence-gathering operation in the Irish Republic" and that Frank Connolly "carried €2.6m back from Colombia as part of the Farc terrorist group's payment to the IRA for arms and explosives training".

In September, the CPI launched its first report, on the planning for a car park in the grounds of Trim Castle. The following Sunday, 2 October, the Sunday Independent ran an "exclusive", headlined "Ahern's fears over Frank Connolly links". This said that Bertie Ahern had raised concerns over Connolly with Chuck Feeney, the CPI's financial backer and founder of Atlantic Philanthropies.

The article also said that developers of a new hotel next to Trim Castle, D O'Brien Developments, described the CPI's report as "misleading and flawed".

The Centre launched its second report, on the Corrib gas pipeline, in late November this year. That Saturday, 26 November, an article by Sam Smyth in the Irish Independent, headlined "Connolly 'used false passport'". The paper published a copy of the allegedly false passport application.

The following day, the Sunday Independent ran an article headlined "Corrib pipeline report is thrown into disarray". This reported that Richard Kuprewicz, the author of an independent analysis of the pipeline contained within the CPI report, had unsuccessfully bid for the government contract to conduct the independent safety review of the pipeline.

The CPI was referred to again in a front-page article in the same issue of the Sunday Independent, an "exclusive" by Jody Corcoran. The CPI was described as "a self-appointed and increasingly controversial organisation". On 11 December, a lengthy article by Jim Cusack in the Sunday Independent described the CPI as "a secretive, unaccountable 'investigative' organisation".

Colin Murphy