Morris reports 'damaging garda morale'
Recent Morris Tribunal reports on garda corruption in Co Donegal are damaging for the force but problems were caused by a small number of rogue officers, it was claimed today.
Garda Press Officer Supt Kevin Donohue said he believed the majority of people are satisfied that gardaí do a good job in often difficult circumstances.
Findings by Justice Frederick Morris concluded last week that officers serving in Donegal in the 1990s fabricated evidence to frame innocent people for the death of Raphoe cattle dealer Richie Barron and other offences.
The judge said corrupt officers undermined the reputation of the 12,000-member force and said wrongdoing in Co Donegal was the norm, not the exception.
Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy broke off his holidays to prepare an official response to the three reports which run to a total of 651 pages.
Supt Donohue said today: “There are a number of serious issues raised in those reports. The Commissioner and the senior management team are examining them at the moment. I would be very slow to pre-empt what the Commissioner may or may not say. I would expect that he should be in a position to give a substantial initial response within a very short period.”
When asked if such reports affected morale in the force, Supt Donohue replied. “I think they do. We're going through a significant period of change and certainly a lot of revelations that have come out of Donegal have been damaging to the organisation.
“The vast majority of gardaí – and the public will certainly back this up - are trying to do the right thing in the right way for the right reasons, up and down the country, day in and day out.
“Sometimes it’s unfair, the media coverage in respect of a small number of people, who transgress even our own internal regulations.”
Supt Donohue cited a 2005 Public Attitudes Survey which said 83% of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the service from the force.
“We’re not suggesting there are no issues to be addressed, of course there are. But the vast majority of gardaí – we’d be satisfied and I think the public would bear that out – are doing a good job,” he told RTE Radio.
Justice Morris concluded that corrupt incidents could be repeated if a Garda management structure based on strict compliance with orders and immediate accountability is not put in place.
Two previous reports by the Morris Tribunal in 2004 and 2005 found senior Donegal officers guilty of staging false IRA arms finds to further their careers and forced three senior officers to resign.
It emerged last week that 105 people had filed complaints of unjust treatment by Donegal gardaí.
Just five cases had reached financial settlements at a cost to taxpayers of €2.12m.
