Garda breaches of citizens’ rights cost taxpayer €3m

ASSAULTS, unlawful arrests and “other breaches of citizens’ rights” by gardaí have cost the taxpayer more than €3m so far this year, latest figures show.

More than €1m was spent on assault claims, including 13 settlements totalling €468,000 and one court award of €12,500.

Four people who were unlawfully arrested settled out of court and shared €46,024, with one person being awarded €5,500 by the courts.

The highest claim figure, of almost €1.5m, was not specified by the Department of Justice, coming under the heading “other”, for which no explanation is given.

Labour justice spokesman Pat Rabbitte said it was a matter of public interest and it was unhelpful to put such a high figure under “other”.

“We should know the reasons why this money is being paid out and should be able to get the proper data,” Mr Rabitte said.

“This is something I would like to see the Controller and Auditor General probe,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Office of the Minister for Integration, Conor Lenihan, revealed that malicious prosecution, unlawful entry and search of premises, defamation, judicial reviews, negligence and harassment were all included under the category “other”.

Compensation claims against the gardaí peaked last year at more than €14m. This was due to the €24m paid out over the past three years as the fallout from the Donegal corruption scandal.

In 2006, compensation claims cost less than €2m, this year looks set to be double that figure.

Costs — including legal fees — are the biggest expense this year, amounting to more than €2m and account for more than the actual payouts.

Fine Gael justice spokes- man Charlie Flanagan said lessons needed to be learnt from the Morris Report.

“It is essential that what happened in Donegal not be repeated. If further legislative changes need to be made then so be it.”

Mr Flanagan said the Garda Ombudsman needs to be properly resourced, and had to operate a thoroughly independent complaints system.

He added that he was concerned by suggestions that a number of cases of complaint had been handed back to gardaí.

“This would seem to defeat the purpose of the ombudsman,” he said.