Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc) investigators have at times been provided with helicopters to ensure they responded rapidly when gardaí were accused of wrongdoing, yet the same level of urgency was absent when a Gsoc member allegedly socialised with Gerard Hutch, the Garda’s biggest staff body has claimed.
The comments by the Garda Representative Association (GRA) relate to the alleged attendance by a Gsoc investigator at a party for Hutch just hours after his acquittal last Monday for the 2016 Regency Hotel murder of David Byrne.
The GRA, which represents over 12,000 rank and file gardaí in a 14,000-strong force, said the inquiry into the Gsoc investigator should have been progressed much faster so any evidence could have been immediately identified and taken for analysis.
[ Garda to examine claim Gsoc member attended Hutch acquittal partyOpens in new window ]
On Monday evening it emerged Minister for Justice Simon Harris had received a preliminary report from Gsoc into the controversy. In a statement, Mr Harris also confirmed Gsoc had referred the matter to the Garda so the force could examine the case and determine if any criminal matters arose requiring investigation.
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Speaking at the opening of the GRA’s annual conference in Westport, Co Mayo, on Monday evening, association president Brendan O’Connor said if there was any criminal allegation relating to the Gsoc investigator’s actions, then An Garda Síochána must be the agency to carry out that inquiry.
“If that is the case, speed is going to be of the essence because in any criminal investigation we need to preserve evidence and establish facts,” he said.
‘Breaking point’
Mr O’Connor said when Garda members were investigated by Gsoc the protocols were clear. He added if a Garda member now found themselves in the same situation as the Gsoc investigator - accused of socialising with Gerard Hutch - there would have been “a very robust, very quick response from the authorities”.
“Gsoc (investigators) have been mobilised by helicopter to the scenes of fatal accidents involving our members,” Mr O’Connor said of the urgency with which Gsoc operated when the actions of gardaí were under suspicion after being linked to fatalities on the roads.
The GRA said the case highlighted the fact there were no clear procedures in place setting out how allegations made against Gsoc personnel, or shortcomings in their work, should be investigated when they arose.
The theme of the three-day GRA annual conference is “breaking point”, with delegates due to raise a series of concerns, including increasing workloads and the prospect gardaí would have to work 47 extra shifts a year under new rosters being introduced by Commissioner Drew Harris. The GRA was also concerned more than 100 members of the force were now suspended from duty after allegations of wrongdoing were made against them.
Mr O’Connor described suspension in the Garda as a “blunt instrument”, adding some members of the force were suspended for periods of five years before being cleared of any wrongdoing. While they were then free to return to work, they often never recovered personally, or in their career, and felt stigmatised in the workplace even though they had been “vindicated”.
“Their mental health, their reputations, their careers are in tatters,” he said. The GRA believed the threshold for suspending a Garda member was now “too low” as some gardaí were being suspended, sometimes for years, based on suspicions.
