No complaints system against senior officers in Donegal

GARDAÍ in Donegal did not have a mechanism to raise concerns about senior officers at the time of the scandals, the head of the largest Garda representative body has said.

Michael O’Boyce, president of the Garda Representative Association (GRA), said it would not have been possible for lower-ranking gardaí to continue to behave badly if they were not protected by senior officers.

He was commenting following the publication of the final two reports of the Morris tribunal on Tuesday.

Mr Justice Frederick Morris found that three senior officers in Donegal had sanctioned a Garda crackdown on the business of Frank McBrearty Snr which was “excessive” and constituted “harassment”.

He further described as an “appalling dereliction of duty” the attempt by the three officers to distance themselves at the tribunal from Sergeant John White, who they had sent to Raphoe to bring Mr McBrearty Snr “to heel”.

Stressing he had yet to read the reports, Mr O’Boyce said: “The simple point is gardaí at Garda rank do not continue in any activity unless those above them are blind or complicit.”

He said many of the gardaí criticised in the various reports had been “encouraged and nurtured by high ranking officers”.

He said gardaí who may have had concerns at the behaviour of their superiors, and those under their protection, had no way of bringing these concerns to anyone in authority.

“It was something identified in earlier Morris reports, that the lower ranks didn’t have an avenue where complaints about senior officers would be treated seriously.”

Mr O’Boyce said it remained to be seen if the new whistleblowers charter would solve the problem.

He also raised concerns at the ability of the Garda Ombudsman Commission to independently investigate complaints against gardaí, saying 80% of complaints were handed back to the Garda for investigation due to lack of staff.

Mr O’Boyce, a long- standing GRA representative in Donegal, said it was a “great source of sadness” to him that Donegal will forever be equated with garda corruption.

“That’s unfair on the 99.9% of guards who have served there and are serving there and are giving of their best for the people of Donegal.” He said the events in Donegal could have happened anywhere.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) said if the Morris reports proved anything it was that complaints against the Garda had to be investigated independently.

“The answer to the Garda Ombudsman’s funding and workload problems is not the erosion of its independence,” said director Mark Kelly.

“In the wake of the final Morris reports, the ICCL again calls on Government to provide full and adequate funding to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission to enable it to investigate all complaints against the Gardaí independently.”