Garda fails in bid to halt tribunal probe

The Supreme Court today rejected a bid by a suspended garda detective to halt the Morris Tribunal’s investigation into allegations he planted a sawn-off shotgun at a traveller camp.

Counsel for Detective Sergeant John White had applied for a stay to prevent the tribunal beginning its module into the incident at the Burnfoot travellers’ camp in Donegal in 1998.

Det Sgt White, who is from Bansha, Co Tipperary, but who now lives in Ballybofey, is also the subject of criminal proceedings over the incident and his senior counsel, John Whelan, claimed the tribunal would affect his constitutional right to a fair trial.

Earlier this week, the high court rejected an appeal for an injunction and judicial review into the matter.

The Morris Tribunal, which was due to start hearing the module in private on Monday, will now go ahead.