IN a recent article about the sale of alcohol at garages (August 2), Gordon Holmes, chair of the Garda Síochána Complaints Board, said, “You are permitting people who are attached to garages, where cars go for petrol, to sell drink to the people who are driving those cars. I think the perception of that must raise queries in any ordinary person’s mind.”

GARDAÍ have a “total inability” to apologise to people when they make genuine mistakes, the head of a Garda watchdog said yesterday.

The Garda Ombudsman Commission was officially launched today.

THE Garda Ombudsman is holding discussions with garda associations and garda management in a bid to set up a system to informally resolve the bulk of complaints it receives.

A jury expressed concerns today after a father-of-10 was shot dead months after he contacted the Garda Complaints Board alleging officers had failed to act over threatening phone-calls.

More than 1,170 complaints were made last year against members of An Garda Siochana, new figures released today revealed.

There is mounting speculation that the Chief of Police in Boston will become the first head of the Garda Watchdog.

A GARDA was arrested and questioned this weekend over allegations he sexually assaulted a colleague.

THE gardaí have set up two investigations into separate incidents of alleged garda misconduct in Killarney, Co Kerry.

Fresh garda powers proposed in the new Criminal Justice Bill must be balanced with additional safeguards, it was claimed today.

PARENTS of children picked up drunk are making complaints about misconduct by gardaí while showing an alarming lack of interest in how their offspring got intoxicated, the head of the garda complaints board said yesterday.

THE proposed new garda inspectorate will not significantly improve the current failed complaints procedures, a top legal expert said yesterday.

A lack of resources, and defects in the structure of the Garda Síochána Complaints Board underline the need for a radical overhaul of the current system for dealing with complaints about the force by the general public.

A RECORD number of complaints were received by the Garda Síochána Complaints Board last year largely due to alleged brutality by officers during riots at the “Reclaim the Streets” rally on Dublin’s Dame Street.

LESS than 1% of all admissible complaints against gardaí handled by the Garda Síochána Complaints Board in the past two years has resulted in a criminal prosecution.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has called on the Garda Siochana Complaints Board to resign to force the Minister for Justice to give them more resources.