Gardaí and ombudsman on collision course

Tensions between the gardaí and the ombudsman are set to escalate today with fresh allegations by the watchdog of lack of co-operation by the force.

The Garda ombudsman’s annual report for 2012 is expected to detail cases where it claims they have experienced difficulties in accessing documentation and evidence from Garda authorities. It comes less than a fortnight after the ombudsman commission made an unprecedented attack on the force for not co-operating with their investigation in the so-called Kieran Boylan informant case.

In that case, which lasted four years, they said of the 63 requests for information from the force, only 17 were supplied in the 30-day agreed time period and six took more than a year.