Probe into alleged collusion with dealer

An explosive report into alleged collusion between gardaí and a convicted drugs trafficker will be completed in the coming weeks.

The mammoth report by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission is expected to raise major issues about activities within the force.

There are also reports that the body will express serious concern at what it sees as lack of co-operation by the force with GSOC investigators, resulting in protracted delays.

The investigation began in Oct 2008 and has been the longest running and most sensitive probe ever undertaken by the independent watchdog.

Former chairman of GSOC, Dermot Gallagher, said in Jun 2011 that the investigation was at the “end stage” and the final report was being drafted.

In June of this year, the new chairman, Simon O’Brien, said there would be either a file to the DPP or a report by the autumn.

A GSOC spokesman yesterday confirmed the report was almost completed: “We are not going to comment on a public interest investigation because it is ongoing, but it is expected to be completed in the coming weeks.”

The investigation was set up after a series of revelations and allegations in the media and in the Dáil.

Particular concern was expressed after it emerged the DPP had twice withdrawn charges against Kieran Boylan in relation to the seizure of €1.7m of drugs in Oct 2005.

Boylan had also twice secured an international haulage licence — the second in 2008 — from the Department of Transport.

This was despite his 2006 conviction for handling €750,000 worth of cocaine and heroin at Dublin Port in 2003.

The GSOC report will throw light on the murky world of criminal informants. The Garda system for handling informants was overhauled after the damning reports of the Morris Tribunal in 1997.

This resulted in the establishment of the Covert Human Intelligence Source (CHIS) system in 2008, which governs what type of people can be used as registered informants and how they have to be handled.

The GSOC probe examined whether Boylan was used as an informant, if he was registered and whether or not he continued to operate as a trafficker.

The report will detail the level of knowledge, and authorisation, within the force regarding Boylan.

There were reports in The Sunday Times yesterday that the probe may also have implications for convictions of other criminals in cases involving Boylan.

The GSOC report, thought to run to hundreds of pages, will go to the three-person commission that runs the body.

They could send a file to the DPP.

If a file is submitted and the DPP decides not to prosecute, it unclear whether or not GSOC will publish the report, either in full or in part.