Supreme Court overturns garda’s dismissal

Drumshanbo in Leitrim may seem “a tidy, quiet, and even sleepy place” but “certainly was not such” around 3.30am one Sunday in September when a Garda claimed to find several people drinking in Monica’s pub, sparking off events ultimately leading to his dismissal, a Supreme Court judge said yesterday as he overturned that dismissal.

Monica McGourty, wife of Paddy McGourty, the proprietor of Monica’s pub, became so incensed after Garda John Kelly spoke to the couple that she walked around the town and sat outside another bar apparently to make the point that other pubs were still operating at that hour, Mr Justice Donal O’Donnell noted.

Garda Kelly, stationed at Drumshanbo, had served 27 years in the force before his dismissal on Aug 2011, arising from an inquiry into allegations of misconduct against him connected with the incident.