Gardaí want Dáil record on TD arrest corrected

A letter from the Garda Ombudsman, quoted in the Dáil by Mick Wallace, stating that gardaí were not co-operating with an investigation into the arrest of TD Clare Daly is almost two years old, it has emerged.

The letter has been read into the Dáil by Wexford TD Mick Wallace, an act Garda representatives claim is an abuse of Dáil privilege.

After being approached by the media, including the Irish Examiner, with reports that the letter was from early May 2013, Mr Wallace yesterday published the letter, which was dated April 30, 2013.

Garda representatives are to write to the Dáil Cathaoirleach to request that the Dáil record be corrected and the good name of the impugned gardaí restored.

Both Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald and Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan yesterday stated emphatically that they were not aware of gardaí not co-operating with GSOC.

GSOC said its investigation into the leaking to the media of the arrest of Ms Daly on suspicion of drink driving in January 2013 was “nearing completion”.

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Mr Wallace told the Irish Examiner yesterday: “I didn’t say [in the Dáil] when the letter was sent.”

He also insisted that GSOC had not received proper co- operation and said the investigation was still not complete, despite being set up two years and three months ago and being investigating “a fairly simple case”.

The drama unfolded afterMr Wallace read from a letter into the Dáil record on Tuesday. The letter said that the gardaí directly involved in the arrest of Ms Daly had “declined to voluntarily provide accounts or to co-operate with the GSOC investigation”.

It said The letter stated that directions had been made that accounts be obtained from the members “by the use of the power of compellability” under section 39 of the Garda Siochána Act 2005. It claimed GSOC had been unable to meet the local superintendent and that letters and phone calls “have gone unanswered”.

Mr Wallace put it to the Taoiseach “that this is an unsatisfactory situation”.

Garda Representative Association official for Dublin South Central, Damien McCarthy, slammed what he said was “an abuse of Dáil privilege”.

He said the gardaí concerned in the investigation, including the two arresting gardaí, “had co-operated fully with every aspect of the investigation” and that detailed statements were given by them, and up to 12 other gardaí, in mid-May 2013.

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GSOC would only say yesterday that the letter was sent “some time ago”.

Mr McCarthy said he was going to write to the Cathaoirleach to get the record corrected. “It is currently on the Dáil record that gardaí that I represent have not co-operated with a GSOC investigation,” he said. “That is simply not the case. This is an abuse of Dáil privilege.”

A spokesman for the GRA national office addedbacked Mr McCarthy: “These claims are outrageous. We have long been concerned about the misuse of Dáil privilege — where it identifies members of the force and they have no recourse.”

Speaking at Garda College yesterday, Ms Fitzgerald said: “There is no problem at present in relation to any particular case and my understanding is that all cases are being dealt with appropriately with information exchanged properly. That’s the current situation.”

Asked was she saying that gardaí had co-operated with this particular investigation, she said: ““Yes I am. I am saying that I have no information to the contrary.”

Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan said: “I am certainly not aware of any member of An Garda Síochána not co-operating with the Ombudsman Commission.”

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