Case of reprimanded garda to be pursued in Dáil

A GARDA who was wrongly disciplined for sending a letter to politicians without the permission of his superiors has been reprimanded for sending the same letter to an internal garda journal.

Case of reprimanded garda to be pursued in Dáil

The case has thrown up fundamental questions about the rights of individual gardaí and the power of garda management to read and hold on to correspondence sent by gardaí to elected political representatives.

The matter is to be pursued in the Dáil next week and internally in An Garda Síochána by representatives of the officer in question, Garda Harry O'Mahony. Labour Party justice spokesman Joe Costello, one of the intended recipients of the letter, is concerned at how garda management was able to read the letter and retain it for 18 months without his knowledge. In the letter, Garda O'Mahony highlighted the case of a Falun Gong practitioner Zhao Ming, a student at Trinity College Dublin, who had been apprehended by Chinese authorities on his return for a holiday in 1999.

The letter had been intercepted in November 2001 as a possible suspect package by officials in the Oireachtas as part of a heightened security system due to a general anthrax scare following September 11. The letter was passed on to gardaí. No suspect material was found.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell told the Dáil last week that disciplinary proceedings against the garda for sending the letter to TDs and senators without the permission of his superiors had been "properly discontinued."

He went on to say: "I am also assured by the garda authorities that there is no question of the member involved being victimised in any way." However, the Irish Examiner has learned that Garda O'Mahony has been found guilty of breaching discipline for sending a letter raising the same human rights concerns to the garda Communique journal, because he did not go through his superiors.

This charge was brought after the initial charge (that of sending letters to politicians without approval) but it was dealt with first. Garda O'Mahony, who is on sick leave, was formally cautioned, a reprimand that will stay on his record for a minimum of a year.

Dermot O'Donnell of the Garda Representative Association said they would be seeking to have the disciplinary charge quashed in light of the decision to drop the original charge.

A spokesman for An Garda Síochána said it was the policy of the force not to comment publicly on matters concerning discipline of individual members.

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