Harris reported to authority on collapsed Margiotta case

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has provided the Policing Authority with a report into the collapsed prosecution against Garda employee Lynn Margiotta over the production of sick notes.

The case against Ms Margiotta and her brother, Tony Margiotta, collapsed last month after a judge in the Circuit Criminal Court ruled Ms Margiotta’s rights to a solicitor and privacy had been breached.

The Irish Examiner yesterday highlighted a litany of unexplained aspects to the investigation into Ms Margiotta, including the circumstances of two arrests and the manner in which she and her brother were charged. Three weeks before her first arrest — by colleagues with whom she had worked — she had lodged a complaint of bullying against a garda member.

Speaking at the AGSI conference, Mr Harris confirmed that he reported the issue to the Policing Authority.

Dr. Tony Margiotta, from Hollystown, Dublin 15, leaving court after the case. PIC: Collins Courts

Asked whether the case was in any way related to the bullying allegation Ms Margiotta had made, Mr Harris said he was unaware of the specifics of that complaint.

For most of the last four and a half years, she has not received an income from the force, despite being an employee since 1999.

Ms Margiotta had been accused of acquiring the sick notes by deception and her brother was accused of producing these for her.

Dr Margiotta never denied he had given her the sick notes but always maintained that there was nothing unusual in this.

The investigating garda told the Circuit Criminal Court he believed Ms Margiotta was unwell for the periods she claimed to be but that was irrelevant to the issue of whether she had acquired the sick certificates by deception.

Ms Margiotta’s solicitor, Yvonne Bambury, has called for a “full and impartial” inquiry into what she said were the “unprecedented circumstances” of the case.