‘Love/Hate’ detective warned of suspension risk

A real-life drama involving a detective who featured in hit crime series Love/Hate is to escalate further as matters reach a climax in the coming weeks.

Kieran O’Reilly, an intelligence officer within the Garda National Drugs Unit, was verbally informed by Garda Headquarters on Friday, Nov 8, he faced suspension if he did not seek a transfer from the unit.

A tense standoff has developed after the 35-year-old detective garda, who played a prominent role as an undercover officer in the RTÉ crime drama, refused to apply for the transfer.

Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan launched an internal investigation a month ago to establish if any disciplinary issues arose out of the role played by Det O’Reilly.

Mr Callinan appointed a superintendent to conduct the investigation. The commissioner has declined to be drawn on whether the review would result in disciplinary action against individual gardaí.

In his most recent comments on the matter, last Tuesday, Mr Callinan said: “I have no difficulty at all with members of An Garda Síochána taking part in dramatic societies and things of that nature, but there are issues surrounding this particular show, and there’s a superintendent looking at those at the moment.”

Matters could develop over the coming days, but Garda sources said nothing might happen until the internal review is completed.

“At the moment, the superintendent has to conclude his inquiries, that will be a few more weeks, at least, and he will make recommendations to the commissioner,” said one source.

Some of the activities of Det O’Reilly in his role as undercover detective Ciaran Madden raised eyebrows in Garda HQ. This included scenes where he and other Garda characters placed the life of a criminal in danger by making gang bosses suspect he was an informant.

Sources close to Det O’Reilly said the programme was “fiction” and “creative writing” and that he had no case to answer.

“His only responsibility was to get permission to act in the show and that was granted. He did the work in his spare time, so this development is quite frightening,” said one source.

Det O’Reilly did work as an undercover detective in the GNDU for six years, but before the show started he has been an intelligence officer in the squad, which is a desk-based job.