Force slammed for withholding evidence
After a protracted four-year investigation into allegations that members of the force colluded with convicted drug dealer, Kieran Boylan, in the supply of drugs, the watchdog slammed An Garda Síochána for “withholding evidence and information”.
And in a startling accusation, they said senior gardaí knew about the relationship between certain detectives in a specialist unit and Boylan, who was run “off book” — outside the registered informant system.
Boylan, a haulage operator and convicted drug dealer from Co Louth, had charges of drug trafficking against him dropped by the DPP in 2008, sparking demands for a Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) inquiry.
GSOC yesterday published a press release and a seven-page file, but decided against publishing any part of the actual investigation report. Details did not include any findings in fact in relation to specific allegations in relation to individual gardaí and Boylan or knowledge of this relationship by specific senior gardaí. GSOC said this was to protect the safety of certain individuals.
It did identify some general deficiencies in the operation of the old intelligence source management system (ISMS), which functioned between Jun 2002 and Apr 2006, covering the bulk of the period under investigation. This detailed deficiencies in relation to one Garda unit, including:
nAbsence of training and lack of awareness of ISMS;
nNon-adherence to procedures for handling informants;
nAbsence of contemporaneous notes by gardaí;
nUnnecessary risks in the handling and management of informants;
nAn environment which weakened strategies for testing the source, quality and reliability of information.
The GSOC document said this “culture of non-adherence to ISMS” spread to other Garda units, with all the attendant risks, including a “failure to critically examine the motivations for the supply of information”.
GSOC commissioner Kieran Fitzgerald said they had serious concerns that all these deficiencies had not been remedied with the introduction of covert human intelligence source (CHIS) system in Apr, 2006.
The level of co-operation by gardaí to requests for information and documents was “highly unsatisfactory” and “unacceptable” and the delays had a “significant detrimental impact” on the investigation in terms of its speed and “completeness”.
The ombudsman made 63 requests for information, with just 17 handed over in accordance with agreed protocols of three months. Six took more than a year and one remained outstanding.
Mr Fitzgerald said a detailed report had been sent to Justice Minister Alan Shatter and Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan. A special report highlighting their grave concerns was forwarded to the minister.
Mr Fitzgerald said they were not recommending that disciplinary action be taken against individual gardaí involved with Boylan: The conduct that might have given rise to any disciplinary investigation would relate to conduct that may well have been carried out by an individual member of An Garda Síochána but perhaps known to other and more senior officers in which case the guards would already know of this activity in the past and they certainly have the full file now and nothing precludes the gardaí from doing whatever they want to do if at all.”
