Govt failed to act on garda corruption warnings, tribunal told

Senior Government officials failed to act on early warnings from a private investigator over corruption among gardaí in Donegal, it was claimed today.

Sean Aylward, secretary general at the Department of Justice, told the Morris Tribunal civil servants were slow to realise the need for an investigation into claims of harassment and victimisation.

He revealed that information from Billy Flynn alleging “unprecedented neglect” among gardaí running a murder investigation may have got caught up with thousands of other letters in the department.

Mr Aylward said officials passed on the complaints to the Garda Commissioner in 1997. But he said it took a culmination of allegations and accusations to trigger a high level independent investigation.

Billy Flynn, hired by Raphoe publican Frank McBrearty to clear his family’s name in a local murder probe, wrote to the department numerous times alleging victimisation of his client and failures among gardaí.

“I’m not certain that the department at a senior level would have been taking this in or been that conscious of it,” Mr Aylward said.

But he said gardaí could have dismissed the accusations and complaints as they came from someone who was a major suspect in the death of cattle dealer Richie Barron.

“I don’t know personally or directly what level of seriousness this was treated with. It was a very slow realisation that we had something terrible here,” he said.

“There was not a full awareness in the department of the extent to which this thing was snowballing on the ground in Donegal.”

But he said officials may have assumed allegations of victimisation were being handled on the ground and that complaints would be processed as normal.

Mr Aylward said in late 1997 the matter began to be treated very seriously.

He said an urgent report was called for over claims of harassment of the McBrearty family, unprecedented neglect in the Richie Barron probe, a forged confession to the Barron death by Frank McBrearty jnr and extortion calls to Michael and Charlotte Peoples.

Mr Aylward said it was no longer a post office exercise and that the Garda Commissioner was called on to act.

“There was now a message there that a special superintendent had been asked to investigate. But it still doesn’t mean that alarm bells would be ringing hugely. It doesn’t mean that there’s an assumption something’s terribly wrong here,” he said.

Mr Aylward said former superintendent Kevin Lennon raised concerns over garda operations with an official at the Director of Public Prosecutions in October 1997.

Lennon noted serious concerns about Frank McBrearty jnr’s confession and serious concerns that there was an attempt in the division to shaft him.

But it was not until April 1999 that a detailed submission was prepared for the Minister of Justice.

Mr Aylward also noted that the Oireachtais was currently examining the Garda Siochana Bill, which he said was a direct result of the work and findings of the tribunal.

And he noted it included provisions for an Ombudsman and a more thorough garda inspectorate in bid to avoid a repeat of the Donegal affair.

Mr Aylward said it would allow for benchmarking on an international basis while vigorously and visibly independently investigating complaints against the force.

“The Garda Siochana has in general been very successful in policing by consent over the last 80 years. While this is a horrific story being looked at by the tribunal it’s not a typical episode in the life of An Garda Siochana,” he said.