Callinan rejects GSOC ‘no confidence’ claim

Former Garda commissioner Martin Callinan has rejected dramatic claims made in the Dáil that he asked Garda staff associations to express no confidence in the Garda Ombudsman.

A source close to Mr Callinan told the Irish Examiner he “utterly rejects” the statement by Clare Daly TD.

During a Dáil debate on the Cooke report, the independent deputy stated that after the bugging story broke Mr Callinan contacted the four Garda staff associations and asked them to “issue a public statement that they had no faith and no confidence in GSOC”. Ms Daly said two bodies, the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors and the Garda Representative Association, did do that.