A documentary on Garda whistleblowers has been pulled from the RTÉ Player.
RTÉ Investigates – The Gardaí: Full Disclosure was broadcast on Wednesday night, but has since disappeared from the RTÉ Player, where it was available.
In a statement RTÉ said it withdrew the documentary following “detailed correspondence from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions about an upcoming court case referenced”.
RTÉ did not say what court case it was referring to, but said the documentary has been “removed temporarily from the RTÉ Player pending the conclusion of these proceedings”.
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“RTÉ will continue to report on the public interest questions raised in the programme and the programme will be made available again on the RTÉ Player in due course,” it said.
[ Garda whistleblowers are being ‘penalised and even purged’, Dáil told ]
The hour-long programme on RTÉ One alleged that the treatment for whistleblowers was worse now than when Sgt Maurice McCabe spoke out, leading to years of controversy over his treatment.
RTÉ interviewed four current or former members of An Garda Síochána who alleged they were targeted or poorly treated for lodging protected disclosures or seeking thorough investigations into these.
Much of the content centred on complaints and protected disclosures by Detective Superintendent Brian O’Reilly and Garda Luke Rochford, a former armourer.
They raised concerns about the haphazard and dangerous that manner firearms, ammunition and other lethal weapons were stored in a shipping container in Garda Headquarters, alongside explosive powder and fireworks.
They also focused on alleged shortcomings with leather holsters on issue to more than 1,500 gardaí. It was claimed the holsters were not fit for purpose and contributed to one garda being shot and injured in an accidental discharge and another being disarmed by an attacker and shot dead with his own gun.
One new revelation to emerge from the RTÉ Investigates programme relates to two of the interviewees, Donal Corcoran and Rose Sweeney. They had key roles in managing and investigating protected disclosures made by other members of the Garda.
Corcoran, who led the Protected Disclosures Unit (PDU) in Garda Headquarters, said he became frustrated by his work being blocked, and by ultimately losing his role when he was moved sideways after the unit was reconfigured and there was no place for him in it.
He decided to turn whistleblower and lodged protected disclosures of his own. He said he was “broken” by his treatment at the hands of Garda management, and believed other gardaí were left in the same condition.
Sweeney is a civilian worker in the Garda and had a leading role in the youth diversion scheme for juvenile offenders. Alongside that role, she was also one of a number of protected disclosure managers, in effect organising for allegations made in disclosures to be investigated.
In general terms, she said there was a culture of “delay, delay, delay, defer it” when protected disclosures were made by Garda members. Both she and Corcoran are on stress-related sick leave from their jobs.
