Has GSOC’s strong hand become a heavy hand?
The Morris Tribunal into corruption by members of the force in Donegal had shown the weakness of the Garda oversight system, the old Garda Complaints Board lacking the necessary independence and authority to inspire respect among gardaí or confidence among the public.
But the death of Sgt Michael Galvin raises questions over whether the strong hand that a body like GSOC needs to perform its work has instead become a heavy hand.
GSOC has faced questions and criticisms from Garda bodies, politicians, and justice ministers alike over the way it has conducted its business from its inception in 2005, through its doors opening in 2007 to the present time.
GSOC has accused gardaí of failing to co-operate with its inquiries and gardaí in turn have accused GSOC of assuming guilt until innocence is proven.
Tensions came to a head with then Garda commissioner Martin Callinan over the GSOC investigation into Garda handling of convicted drug dealer and informant Kieran Boylan. And they erupted with then justice minister Alan Shatter when it emerged GSOC had a security sweep carried out of its offices over suspicions it was being bugged.
Shatter was furious both at what GSOC’s suspicions implied about State security forces and at the commission’s decision not to inform him of its concerns.
The penalty points controversy didn’t help relations, and in January, GSOC chairman, Simon O’Brien, quit. He has not yet been replaced.
But while all this was going on, GSOC was getting on with the business of investigating more mundane complaints against gardaí, although some of those also hit the headlines.
In 2011, four gardaí who had been suspended and charged with a vigilante attack on a young man in his Dublin home while imprisoning his mother in a bathroom, were cleared in court of all charges. The case, pursued by GSOC, had taken three years.
In 2014, a two-year ordeal ended for two Cork City gardaí who were accused, after a GSOC probe, of using excessive force against a 16-year-old but who were completely cleared in court when evidence was produced that their actions had in fact been restrained in the circumstances.
But although there have been some high-profile cases that have undoubtedly caused hardship and distress to individual gardaí, they have to be viewed in the context that GSOC receives more than 2,000 complaints against gardaí every year.
For its part, GSOC has always seemed sure of itself, unapologetic about its responsibilities, and well able to handle criticisms and questions.
It has also repeatedly made the point that while it investigates, it can only recommend that disciplinary or criminal proceedings do or do not follow. It is a matter for the Garda authorities and/or the DPP to make those decisions.
Up to the middle of this week, despite the very emotive issue of Sgt Galvin’s suicide, GSOC was again holding fast, stressing it had a job to do and procedures to follow.
It also gently but firmly reminded its critics that the whole tragic saga arose from the death of a mother-of-three, knocked down and killed on New Year’s Day, shortly after an encounter with Sgt Galvin.
Unlike in 1996, when Richie Barron was apparently knocked down and killed in the incident that ultimately led to the Morris Tribunal and the establishment of GSOC, higher standards of investigation are now demanded.
But Sgt Galvin knew himself to be innocent of any error or omission that contributed to Sheena Stewart’s death — as indeed was GSOC’s finding — so why he feared GSOC would conclude otherwise is a mystery that the judicial inquiry will attempt to unravel. The question is, will it also unravel the oversight structures that the Morris Tribunal vividly illustrated were so badly needed, and if so, will it be because it pulled too hard or because the threads were already loose?
