Garda sergeants and inspectors have welcomed the verdict in the Ian Bailey case, saying they remained hopeful that the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier could still be solved. The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) has also praised the Garda members who brought Graham Dwyer to justice for the murder of Elaine O'Hara.
AGSI general secretary John Redmond said gardaí worked as hard on other investigations, though those efforts were rarely seen by the public. "We don't go trumpeting it from the rooftops – this just happened to be higher-profile and that's why it came to the fore," he said at the opening of the association's annual conference in Trim, Co Meath.
“We do this type of investigation day in, day out, and it often goes unnoticed.”
Commenting on the verdict in the Ian Bailey case, in which a High Court jury did not find in favour of Mr Bailey's allegations that the Garda Síochána had conspired to implicate him in Ms Toscan du Plantier's murder, Mr Redmond said there were "no winners".
Garda reputation
“The fact the jury found there was no conspiracy; that’s important for the reputation of the Garda organisation,” he said. “An unfortunate incident occurred almost 20 years ago. We still can’t forget a woman was murdered at the time, and that case is still unsolved. That has to continue to be our priority as police.”
Mr Redmond said that now allegations by Mr Bailey against some Garda members had been rejected at the end of a very lengthy trial, those against whom they were levelled could “breathe easier”.
He added that even though a Garda member may know an allegation against them is unfounded, the investigation of such accusations was very stressful for those gardaí and their families.
Focused
However, the force would remain focused on the fact a woman had been murdered and that the killing was unsolved, just as they had remained focused until Dwyer was convicted. “[Gardai] work very, very hard to bring perpetrators to justice and to gather evidence where they can, and that will continue in this case as well, and they will still aim to solve that case . . . There needs to be closure for the family,” he said.
AGSI vice-president Antoinette Cunningham criticised Garda Commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan for her failure to meet AGSI to clarify issues relating to sick pay. While Ms O'Sullivan had met the association as recently as last month, Ms Cunningham said AGSI had been told by Minister forJustice Frances Fitzgerald that no further progress could be made on the issues of concern until an outstanding legal case was dealt with in June. AGSI has said it no longer has involvement in the litigation and is urging Ms O'Sullivan to meet the association to address questions about how gardaí injured at work qualify for sick pay.
Ms Cunningham has said there was no clear definition for frontline members of “occupational injury, no guidelines on what constitutes a critical illness [and] no policy in relation to previous injury on duty which members are still affected by”.
