Gardaí facing €1.5m legal bill

Gardaí are facing a bill of up to €1.5m to defend themselves in tribunals and court cases, it emerged today.

The Morris Tribunal into Garda corruption in the Donegal Division has sat for around 330 days while the Barr Tribunal into the shooting of John Carthy at Abbeylara has sat for 208 days.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) said it had paid €1m on legal fees so far for representing rank-and-file members at the two tribunals and in the courts.

“This is a significant amount and there can be little doubt in any member’s mind that the continued payment of such large sums of money would not be sustainable in the long term,” it said in its annual report.

The GRA paid €785,000 in legal fees for the Barr Tribunal, which concluded last December, and €400,000 in fees for the Morris Tribunal, which is due to rule on costs for its second module next month.

The GRA faces a bill of €350,000 if costs are not awarded for this module, as well as an unspecified bill from its solicitors at the Morris tribunal.

Last year, the Morris Tribunal refused to award costs to the GRA on behalf of three of its members – Garda Noel McMahon, Garda Martin Leonard, and Garda PJ Thornton. were found not to have co-operated when they gave evidence during the module into hoax explosives finds in Co Donegal.

While the GRA continues to provide full legal assistance for gardai prosecuted in the courts, it has withdrawn its junior and senior counsel at the Morris Tribunal, leaving just a solicitor to represent members.

The GRA’s legal team at the Barr Tribunal represented the 36 gardaí involved in the Abbeylara siege but did not return for the final day of the tribunal last December. They had accused Mr Justice Barr of casting the gardai in the role of the accused and treating them differently from other witnesses during the tribunal.

However, the GRA said it was confident of receiving its costs from the Barr Tribunal because there was no suggestion that members did not co-operate fully.