Gardaí fear disciplinary action for speaking out

RANK-AND-FILE gardaí are unable to highlight wrongdoing in the force for fear of the threat of disciplinary proceedings, it was claimed yesterday.

The claim was made as the Garda Representative Association (GRA) broke a week-long silence on the Morris Reports yesterday with a barrage of criticisms about the reports and reaction to them.

In a wide-ranging retort, GRA general secretary PJ Stone, disputed Justice Morris’s findings, criticised the Minister for Justice and media, and told the garda ombudsman he should stay quiet on the issue.

Mr Stone complained that senior gardaí had not been criticised for their failures to address the problems that arose in Co Donegal, even when they were detailed in the Carty Report, the unpublished findings of the internal Garda inquiry prior to the Morris Tribunal.

“There are questions to be asked of senior management,” he said. He claimed gardaí were unable to highlight wrongdoing in the force for fear of disciplinary proceedings.

He said Justice Minister Michael McDowell was wrong not to allow gardaí access to the new ombudsman commission which is to begin investigating civilian complaints against the gardaí next year.

One of the three members of the commission, Conor Brady, had earlier described as “very serious” Justice Morris’s finding that indiscipline and insubordination was widespread across the force.

Mr Brady described the force as a “monolith” that would benefit from outside influence and he welcomed tougher new disciplinary procedures announced by Mr McDowell last week, saying they followed the example used by forces in England and Wales.

“They have found there that there is very little point in trying to get police convicted before juries and that the best thing is to get rid of them. I think that is probably the way things will go here too. Juries are very reluctant to convict gardaí,” he said.

He cited as examples the acquittal of disgraced Detective Sergeant John White in two court cases and the acquittal of gardaí involved in the infamous May Day protests despite clear video footage exposing misbehaviour.

Mr Stone, however, disputed the finding that indiscipline was widespread. “There is no evidence in relation to anything I have seen presented to Mr Morris that would lead anybody to come to that conclusion,” he said.