Jailed IRA garda killers ‘live like kings in own compounds’

JAILED IRA garda killers are living like “kings in their own compounds”, gardaí said yesterday.

Rank and file officers called on Justice Minister Michael McDowell to end the liberal regime granted to the killers of Garda Jerry McCabe.

“Garda killers are garda killers and belong locked up and not free to roam like kings in their own little compounds, let alone back on the streets,” said Dermot O’Donnell, president of the Garda Representative Association (GRA).

The four IRA men - Kevin Walsh, Pearse McAuley, Jeremiah Sheehy and Michael O’Neill - live in chalets in an area called the Grove, which is inside Castlerea prison, but outside the main jail.

Addressing the GRA annual conference in Tralee, which was attended by Garda McCabe’s widow, Ann, Mr O’Donnell said the killers enjoyed a “very relaxed regime” compared to institutions such as Mountjoy.

“We don’t see why they should enjoy that considering the callous nature of the crime they committed,” he said.

He told Mr McDowell, who addressed the conference, that just because he inherited the situation did not mean he could not do something about it. He said his party leader Mary Harney inherited unsatisfactory situations in the Department of Health, but was trying to tackle them.

“We would hope that you would follow her lead and ask that no special arrangements be allowed to garda killers in any prison.”

He said on/off proposals to release the McCabe killers in the context of IRA ending all paramilitary and criminal activity was a “permanent torment” for relatives of Garda McCabe, Garda Ben O’Sullivan and all gardaí.

Mr McDowell said the McCabe killers were not living like royalty.

“They’re not kings in their own compounds. They are incarcerated in the Grove area of Castlerea, where there are murderers and other serious offenders,” the minister said.

He said under no circumstances could the conditions in the Grove be described as “living in luxury”.

He said he inherited the situation and that he could not act in an “arbitrary” way and just move them. “I have to maintain the situation I found, but I’ve made it clear that any behaviour that warrants it I won’t hesitate moving them back to Portlaoise.”

He also said there was no question of an amnesty for the two other killers of Garda McCabe who are on the run.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said that on all the occasions he met the GRA they “never once” raised the issue at the Grove with him.

He said the McCabe killers are under no illusions that they are in prison and the governor was in control.

Referring to the prosecution of gardaí as a result of the 2002 May Day clashes in Dublin, Mr O’Donnell said these officers were being “scapegoated”.

“Our members on the ground are asking, why is it only members of our rank found themselves before the courts to account while what they see as often inept garda management go completely blameless.

“The events of May 6 2002 were in a large part due to the failure of management to implement proper planning. It is unfair that our members are left to shoulder the burden of blame.”

He said the GRA had called on the garda commissioner to carry out an investigation into management’s handling of this event.

“To date, this report has never been published, nor has a copy been made available to this association.

“I ask you, minister, ensure that this accountability deficit is set right with the immediate publication of this report.”

He also said gardaí are afraid to come to work due to bullying and intimidation by management personnel. “You find people are violently sick at the thought of coming to work because they are victims of bullying. There are things like continued oppressive supervision and correction not for improvement but merely to put somebody down to lower their self-esteem,” said Mr O’Donnell.

Mr O’Donnell told Mr McDowell that conditions at Templemore Garda Training College had rapidly deteriorated as a result of the minister’s increased recruitment programme.

He also said gardaí in Castleisland in County Kerry would walk out of their station on July 1 unless a site for a new station is found.