Harris ‘confidence in Kerry gardaí’ amid licensing probe

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has said he has confidence in the commitment and quality of Kerry gardaí, as Gsoc investigates concerns raised about the implementation of licensing laws in the area.

At a meeting of the county’s Joint Policing Committee in Tralee, he said that nothing less than the enforcement of all law, including licensing law, is acceptable.

The meeting heard of “great concern” among the public about alleged long-standing Garda failure to implement licensing laws in Killarney. While many publicans in the town abided by the law, others were able to ignore it and serve until the early hours, Mr Harris was told.

The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission is now investigating the matter, Mr Harris said, and he appealed directly to members of the public who have information about the issue to approach Gsoc.

He said: “If people have information, they should take that to Gsoc.

They are mandated in law to conduct this investigation and in time we will learn their conclusions.

A 2016 investigation, on foot of a separate internal complaint — known locally as ‘vouchergate’ — into whether gardaí were being offered vouchers by a publican, was mentioned at the meeting and the commissioner said he would check its status and ask if it could be revisited.

Kerry Fianna Fáil TD John Brassil said the allegations are of “great concern in this room and to people outside”.

Killarney-based Fine Gael senator Paul Coghlan said that, since last weekend, he had been “bombarded” with the allegations. All anyone could talk about at events he attended “was what was written in this blog”.

Mr Coghlan had been “pestered” with phonecalls since, one of them nasty.

“The surprising thing is so many citizens seem to believe there was truth in these allegations,” he said.

He referred to an allegation that 30 of the town’s 130 premises did not have licences in 2012 and said this meant they were operating as ‘shebeens’.

“This is something reminiscent of the wild west,” he added.

Kerry’s most senior garda, Chief Supt Eileen Foster, said she was “very aware people are very concerned”. She could not comment due to the legalities surrounding the matter.