32 March 2015
POLITICS
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Negative interest rates 36
The State of the State: Teagasc 40
Travellers’ rights 40
Gay marriage 41
A
BIG spin is underway about
“the biggest ever reshuffle of
senior gardaí” by incoming
Garda Commissioner, Noirin
O’Sullivan with “nearly 100
senior officers being transferred and
promoted” and the Irish Times editorial-
ising about a “bold and brave new start”.
So Village decided to have a look back
at incidents of corruption, malfeasance,
harassment and intimidation which
have significantly compromised the rep-
utation of the Irish police force; and to
which she needs to direct herself.
The litany involves real or alleged
Garda involvement in an extraordinary
range of delinquency from supplying
drugs to framing for murder to bullying
whistleblowers.
Much of the Garda is
systemically and endemically
corrupt. By Jonathan Baxter
Get on with it
March 2015 33
that for a considerable period he was
confined to a wheelchair, unable to walk.
Betty Noone told of seeing gardaí drag a
woman to the side of a road – “...she tried
to get up, and as a third Garda left her…
he kicked her”.
Noone – a 63 year old grandmother
– outlined how she herself was lifted up
by a Garda and thrown towards a water-
filled drain, perhaps eight feet below the
road. John Monaghan, a former Irish
Press journalist told of how a Garda
had threatened to rape his wife. He has
an audio recording – that he says is of
this incident. Another recording shows
how sergeant James Gill joked about
raping two female protesters who had
been arrested. But the Garda Ombuds-
man found that no action could be taken
ag ain st hi m as he had r et ir ed. He had a lso
exercised his right to silence throughout
his questioning and “largely gave a ‘no-
comment’ interview” to them.
Following the death of Gerry Ryan
in 2010, the Irish Independent pub-
lished allegations that the drug use of
high-profile figures was well-known
to gardaí. A senior source had told the
paper that half the trade of one notori-
ous dealer was going into RTé. Despite
apparent awareness, gardaí did not act
on this information, instead protect-
ing the ongoing supply as it was claimed
the dealer was a “valuable intelligence
source”.
An official response from the gardaí
claimed these allegations came from
anonymous sources and were not sub-
stantiated by facts. Other sources
suggested that there was an unwill-
ingness within the force to bring such
allegations to light for fear of political
reprisals.
In 2013 report by Ombudsman for
Children Emily Logan found gardaí
had been guilty of racial profiling after
taking a blonde two-year-old Roma child
into care.
Also in 2013, a whistleblower emerged
alleging numerous incidents of inter-
nal fraud with dozens of members of
the gardaí accused of falsely claiming
subsistence, travel and overtime pay-
ments. It appears that all of these claims
were made against individuals based at
Garda headquarters on Harcourt Street,
the home of specialist units such as the
Criminal Assets Bureau, National Bureau
of Criminal investigation, and the Garda
Bureau of Fraud Investigation.
A chief superintendent was appointed
to investigate the claims but no outcomes
from the investigation have yet to have
been made public.
Meanwhile, individual members of the
Garda were coming forward with claims
of internal harassment and intimida-
tion, to mixed effect.
Detective Sergeant Michael Buck-
ley fought his transfer from the Serious
Crime Review Team at Harcourt Square
to the Stolen Motor Vehicle Investigation
Unit. He claims the move was a malicious
response to complaints made by him in
2011 against more senior officers who
he alleged were the perpetrators of bul-
lying and harassment. His claims were
dismissed in 2012 but, following one
unsuccessful appeal, he brought another
to the High Court which agreed that one