Former Fianna Fáil representative sues over 'campaign against him by gardaí'

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee is a named defendant.  Picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

A former Fianna Fáil representative has filed a legal case against the Minister for Justice and the Garda Commissioner for unlawful acts allegedly committed against him by multiple garda members.

Kieran Hartley, a 50-year-old energy consultant and former Fianna Fáil substitute MEP for the Ireland South constituency, has alleged multiple instances of aggressive, intimidatory, and threatening behaviour on the part of gardaí on dates between 2002 and 2021.

The case, first lodged in the High Court in February of 2023, is set for mention Monday.

The named defendants are the Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, whom Mr Hartley states is responsible for the behaviour of An Garda Síochána members, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, and the Attorney General.

The State has not filed any responding documents to Mr Hartley’s statement of claim, which was delivered to the Chief State Solicitor Maria Browne last July.

In that statement, Mr Hartley alleges, amongst other things, that the defendants have failed: to have any adequate regard to the rights of persons; to take any adequate steps to ensure Mr Hartley was treated with dignity and respect; and to observe his constitutional right to a good name.

He further alleges that the plaintiffs allowed his prosecution for a public order offence in 2020 to proceed despite it having been “unlikely to be successful” and that they allowed certain garda members to remain in the force “when they knew or ought to have known that the said members were unfit to serve as members of An Garda Síochána”.

Campaign claim

Mr Hartley states that he believes there is a “campaign against him being orchestrated by a number of members of An Garda Síochána”.

He states that having been summoned for two public order charges and a separate charge of assault — which was subsequently withdrawn for reasons unknown — he, while vehemently denying the charges, subsequently attended at a garda station to give a voluntary statement under caution.

Under discovery for the case, Mr Hartley alleges that his signed statement was not delivered by the gardaí, but rather he received a record of a question-and-answer session which he states he did not partake in, while the signature on the same document was not his.

That public order case was eventually dismissed by District Court Judge Brian O’Shea in November 2021 before reaching trial while a challenge to the authenticity of garda documents was being brought by Mr Hartley. 

Other allegations of garda wrongdoing by the plaintiff within the statement include: the force failing to investigate when dead animals were left in front of his home in 2012;  the gardaí failing to investigate after 22 tonnes of gravel were dumped at his home in February 2020; and false disclosures allegedly being made to the Football Association of Ireland in 2019 when Mr Hartley applied for Garda vetting for the purposes of football coaching, with that application being delayed by 3 months before eventually being granted.

Mr Hartley is seeking aggravated damages from the defendants together with an order for costs.