'Media leaks' should not distract from 'gross mismanagement of State assets' at Garda College

Gsoc is conducting an investigation into the financial management of the Garda College in Templemore. Picture: Andy Jay

A former head of Garda human resources has claimed that “pointed media leaks” serve as a distraction from one of the worst examples of “gross mismanagement of State assets” in Irish history.

Stories that ran in multiple media outlets about an ongoing Gsoc investigation into the financial management of the Garda College in Templemore “serve to dilute and deflect public attention” from the “financial misappropriate” activities at the college, according to John Barrett.

Mr Barrett, who last December sought a court order preventing his dismissal from his job over his testimony to the Charleton Disclosures Tribunal, has told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the perceived inappropriate behaviour at the Garda college “was known and understood for many years by the most senior staff in An Garda Síochána”.

Four-year investigation

Gsoc, the Garda Ombudsman, commenced its four-year investigation into Templemore and the so-called Cabra account in June 2017.

It is unclear when its final report will be delivered, though a communication to PAC from the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) in May said it had both opened and closed an investigation of its own into the matter. That letter stated that OLAF “cannot provide any additional information concerning the results of that investigation, so as not to prejudice any potential follow-up at national level”.

In his letter to PAC, which is set to be discussed by the committee on Tuesday morning, Mr Barrett suggested the committee “assist the ongoing investigation by posing a series of questions which require to be addressed within the report of the appointed investigator”.

“I believe that by posing a series of questions the focus of attention of the investigation can be drawn to a series of essential matters which illustrate the scope and scale of the abuse of public funds and methodologies which will bring the factual matrix of matters to light,” he said.

His letter, seen by the Irish Examiner, is accompanied by a 31-page report containing detailed questions which Mr Barrett feels should be asked by the investigating body regarding the activities at Templemore.

They include requests for “a full and complete tracing of each investment account” and “confirmation as to whether or not the legally required permission of the Department of Finance was secured to open these investment accounts”.

Gsoc’s investigation into Templemore resulted from a Garda internal audit report into the college, covering the period 2009 to 2016, which concluded it could offer “no assurance that the internal management and control systems in place to manage the finances at the Garda College are adequate”.

It found that Garda staff assigned to administrate the Templemore college “had no training in or experience of administration” and had no expertise in knowledge of public purse management, while €125,000 collected in rent on a farm adjacent to the college was lodged to the Garda restaurant account, rather than being transferred to the OPW, the legal owner of that land.

Recent media reports have suggested that any prosecution over the matter is “unlikely”, Mr Barrett said.

The former head of human resources for the Garda, Mr Barrett was the most senior civilian employee of the force before his suspension in October 2018.