Morris Tribunal ‘stunned’ by lack of garda discipline

DISCIPLINE in the gardaí has been lost, the Morris Tribunal has concluded.

It said there was an extreme danger that abuses in Donegal would be repeated elsewhere in the country if action was not taken.

“The tribunal has been staggered by the amount of indiscipline and insubordination it has found in the garda force.

“There is a small, but disproportionately influential, core of mischief-making members who will not obey orders, who will not follow procedures, who will not tell the truth and who have no respect for their officers,” the damning report concluded.

Mr Justice Frederick Morris said it could not be said gardaí in Donegal were “unrepresentative or an aberration” from gardaí generally.

He said all of them trained as gardaí and served under a uniform structure of administration and discipline.

“In the tribunal’s opinion, proper discipline has been lost from the Garda Síochána. Without a management structure being restored to the gardaí that is based on strict compliance with orders, and immediate accountability, the danger is extreme that what the tribunal has reported in Donegal will be repeated; and that such conduct will multiply if allowed to go unchecked.”

Mr Justice Morris said police work required the safeguard of strict internal discipline, particularly given the wide range of powers available to members.

“An Garda Síochána must have, as in a military organisation, accountability and unwavering discipline,” he said.

He said the tribunal remained stunned at the conspiracy involving a sergeant and two gardaí in a bid to pervert the course of justice. Mr Justice Morris said the force needed new members, from religious and national minorities.

But the judge said there was still a substantial core of good gardaí.

He mentioned Michael O’Boyce, an official with the Garda Representative Association, who refused to lie for his colleagues.

He commended the dedication of many officers, including Deputy Commissioner Peter Fitzgerald, Chief Supt Thomas Monaghan and Chief Supt Willie Keane.

But Mr Justice Morris said that without a means of getting rid of gardaí who were causing real problems and helping those who were vulnerable, there would be a terrible waste of talent.

“It goes without saying that organised insubordination on a mass scale would be a disaster.”

He raised strong concerns at the power given to superintendents to issue search warrants under the Offences Against the State Act.