Telecoms mast at centre of corruption claims

Ardara, on the edge of Donegal’s western seaboard, became another town blackened by allegations of garda corruption after an arson attack on a telecommunications mast and an explosive was planted at it in November 1996.

Locals fiercely opposed to the 80ft aerial being built on a hill near the town fought long and hard to block it, with arsonists setting fire to a container on the site causing IR£50,000 of damage.

Three local men Hugh Diver, his late brother Anthony Diver and local landowner Bernard Shovlin were all arrested the day after the explosive was found and later released without charge.

A rumour had gone round Donegal that the device, made from firecrackers, was put together in the back yard of Glenties garda station and planted on the mast.

Former independent TD Tom Gildea named journalist Frank Connolly as the confidential source who told him this.

:: Findings

Det Sgt John White did not preserve the scene of the explosive. He tested the device in the back yard of Ardara Garda Station by burning it and he was determined to secure warrants follow-up searches against Bernard Shovlin, Hugh Diver and his late brother Anthony.

The report found: “The account from Det Sgt White as to his involvement in the investigation that arose out of the arson attack on the mast is so riddled with inconsistencies that the tribunal cannot accept his version of events.

“The tribunal cannot accept that he was telling the truth as to how he found the object on the mast.”

The report said either Det Sgt White planted the explosive, or someone did it for him.

It also said Det Sgt White’s colleagues were overawed by him, pointing to a naivety among young officers.

Judge Morris said he could criticise two officers involved in the investigation, Retired Garda Patrick O’Donnell and Sergeant Sean McKenna, but chose not to. Instead he pointed to the lack of options for whistelblowers in the force, an issue which has since been addressed.

“The members involved, Gda O’Donnell and Sergeant McKenna are not therefore to be blamed for being put into, and forced into, a situation where they were required to apparently carry out a duty they found repulsive,” the report found.