Five-year suspension of gardaí to be raised in Dáil

Social Democrat spokesperson for Justice, Catherine Murphy, said she will be raising the issue after the Irish Examiner revealed that 89 gardaí are currently on suspension from the force, with two out of work since 2016. Picture Denis Minihane.

THE length of time some gardaí have been suspended from the force will be raised in the Dáil in the new year.

Social Democrat spokesperson for Justice, Catherine Murphy, said she will be raising the issue after the Irish Examiner revealed that 89 gardaí are currently on suspension from the force, with two out of work since 2016.

She said she was particularly surprised to learn that two gardaí are more than five years on suspension.

She said: “Obviously that particularly piqued my interest on why that would not have concluded at this stage. That would suggest to me that there is a very faulty process if you cannot bring it to a conclusion. I don’t think that is in anyone’s interest. Obviously gardaí are, in the same way as any other worker, protected by employment rights. But the very least you would want is to have it brought to a speedy conclusion and where there is wrongdoing, that sanctions are imposed.” 

She said she will be raising the issue in the Dáil when it resumes in January, particularly regarding the length of suspensions, and what processes take place when a garda is suspended.

Social Democrat spokesperson for JusticeCatherine Murphy will raise the issue in the Dáil Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Realistic standards

Retired chief superintendent and committee member of the Garda Siochana Retired Members Association, John O’Brien, said that law enforcement officers including gardaí should be held to a high standard.

But he said the length of a suspension should be “realistic”, adding that suspension “should not be seen as or amount to a process in its own right”.

He said the only process that should legally arise from that is either a criminal or a disciplinary conclusion, adding: “The suspension should not be the penalising event”.

Up to November 25, there were 86 members on suspension, according to figures provided to the Irish Examiner under the Freedom of Information Act.

However, a garda spokesman confirmed that a further three gardaí have been suspended recently as part of an investigation in Dublin into allegations of gardaí extorting money from food-delivery workers.

40 gardaí were suspended between January 1 and November 25 this year, with 38 of those still out on November 25. 41 were suspended last year, with 31 of those still out on suspension.

The number of suspensions in the past two years is much higher than in previous years. For example, just eight officers were suspended in 2016, with the number of suspensions having climbed every year since.

There were nine suspensions in 2017; 20 in 2018, and 25 in 2019.

Among those suspended last year were eight gardaí in the Limerick division, as a probe is carried out by the National Bureau of Crime Investigation into the squaring of traffic offences in the Limerick division. Three have had books of evidence served on them but the other five are still waiting for a decision on their fate.

While gardaí do not comment on suspensions directly, the organisation’s press office says that, in general, the suspension of Garda members from duty is a statutory process governed by the Garda Síochána (Discipline) Regulations 2007.