A detective Garda sergeant, dismissed because of his role in serious corruption in the Donegal division, may still get his full pension despite not working for the required 30 years, The Irish Times has learned.
Former detective sergeant John White also plans to challenge his dismissal because he says it is unconstitutional.
He will get a once-off gratuity payment of nearly €80,000 even if he loses his appeal and fails to secure a full pension.
He was informed of his dismissal in a letter from Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy which was hand-delivered to him last Thursday. It was effective from midnight that night.
The decision to remove him from the force followed his implication by the Morris tribunal in planting a shotgun and a hoax device in order to make wrongful arrests.
He was also found by the Morris tribunal to have made false statements and induced a civilian to make false statements about after-hours drinking in a nightclub in Raphoe, Co Donegal, owned by the McBreartys.
However, Mr White's solicitor, Paudge Dorrian, yesterday said his client believed he was entitled to his full pension and was still pursuing it. A spokesman for the Mr Conroy confirmed that the matter of the pension had yet to be decided upon.
Mr White is seeking the full pension payable on 30 years service because he believes the last five years, during which he has been suspended from the force, should be counted towards his pensionable service.
If he is not awarded these five years, he will have just over 26 years of service, well short of the 30 years needed for a full pension.
He has claimed that because he was cleared of corruption-related charges at trial, the five years for which he was suspended should be added to his pensionable service.
In the normal course of events, a member of the Garda Síochána cleared of wrongdoing would be reinstated and his or her period of suspension added to pensionable service. However, Mr White was never reinstated to the force.
Despite being cleared of any wrongdoing during two trials last July and in January 2005, he was implicated in the same corrupt acts by Mr Justice Frederick Morris in his three reports published in August.
Mr White has previously claimed the Morris tribunal findings were based on "hearsay, innuendo and rumour".
He is currently entitled to a pension based on his 26 years of service. This would mean he would get a pension of almost 40 per cent of his last salary, rather than the 50 per cent he would have received with the full 30 years of service.
He would also be entitled to a gratuity payment only slightly lower than the estimated €85,000 he stands to receive if his five-year period spent on suspension is counted as pensionable service.
He has been suspended for five years and two months on 90 per cent salary, meaning he has been paid in the region of €200,000 in that period.
Mr Dorrian said Mr White planned to fight his dismissal. He believed the legislation invoked, the Garda Síochána Act 2005, was unconstitutional in that it contained no provisions for a Garda member to appeal their dismissal.
Mr Dorrian said the legislation was already being judicially reviewed and he questioned the constitutionality of Mr Conroy's strong dismissal powers under the Act.
He added that there may also be other grounds on which to challenge the dismissal.
