Former Garda assistant commissioner backs calls for inquiry into Evan Fitzgerald case

Evan Fitzgerald arriving at Naas Court in March on charges of possession of firearms. On June 1 he fired shots in the air at Fairgreen Shopping Centre in Carlow before taking his own life with a stolen shotgun. Picture: Colin Keegan/Collins 

A former assistant Garda commissioner has backed calls for an independent inquiry into the garda handling of the Evan Fitzgerald case — the young man who took his own life in a Carlow shopping centre shooting.

Pat Leahy said “a public trust and confidence issue” has emerged about the case in which an undercover garda operation was used to sell decommissioned weapons to Mr Fitzgerald after a tip-off that he was attempting to source weapons on the dark web.

The weapons were supplied in a controlled garda delivery operation to Mr Fitzgerald and two friends, with all three arrested just minutes later.

Mr Fitzgerald, 22, was facing charges of possessing illegal firearms arising out of the operation when on June 1 he fired shots into the air at the Fairgreen Shopping Centre in Carlow before taking his own life with a shotgun he had stolen from a neighbour.

Senator Michael McDowell's concerns

Using Seanad privilege, former justice minister and attorney general, Independent senator Michael McDowell, outlined details of the case and accused undercover gardaí involved in the sting operation of “entrapment”. 

He has also raised concerns that sworn evidence given to the district court judge who first heard details of the weapons charges may have been “misleading” and left the judge “in the dark”.

Former assistant commissioner's comments

Speaking on the This Week programme on RTÉ Radio One on Sunday, Mr Leahy said a young man has lost his life, a family is grieving, and people need answers.

“When you're in the public domain like this, and for such a sensitive matter on all fronts, I think, at some stage, there will have to be clear openness and transparency about what happened and how it happened, and what the facts of the case were,” he said.

Public trust and confidence is the lifeblood of the whole criminal justice system, because policing is the ground floor in all of this.

“So almost everything comes through the policing hands first, and if public trust and confidence isn't strong there, everything else is up to be questioned.

“So it's really, really important that this is addressed.

“At some stage, when the time is right, some of the questions that are being asked in public now will have to be answered and they'll have to be answered independently, by someone who is trusted by the community, trusted by the politicians.” 

Former assistant Garda commissioner Pat Leahy said: '[Q]uestions that are being asked in public now will have to be answered and they'll have to be answered independently, by someone who is trusted by the community, trusted by the politicians.' Picture: Eamonn Farrell/Rolling News 

Garda commissioner Drew Harris said he has referred Mr McDowell’s concerns to Fiosrú, the office of the police ombudsman.

Mr McDowell called again on Sunday for an inquiry into the garda handling of the case.

But the ombudsman said because the matters concerned “are the same in substance” to issues it has already said do not require further action, there is nothing further to be considered by them.

Mr McDowell said he was “gobsmacked” by that decision.

“I don’t know whether they’ve looked at the digital audio recording of what happened in the District Court, as to whether they have actually examined what was said on oath to the district judge,” he said.

“But if they have, that's one thing, and I'd like to hear that. But if they haven't, and I don't believe they have, I think that it is very premature of them to say that they don't propose taking any further action in relation to a serious issue of this kind.”

An Garda Síochána was asked for its reaction to Mr Leahy but said in a statement that it does not comment directly on third-party remarks.

A spokesperson said controlled deliveries are one of many recognised investigative techniques used when tackling serious crimes such as drug dealing and procuring of firearms, and that controlled deliveries are recognised by the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime.

"The death of Mr Fitzgerald is now a matter for the independent coroner. The independent coroner has statutory responsibility to determine the cause of the death of an individual. The coroner is best placed to determine such matters independently rather than speculation and a statutory based coroner’s inquiry will be held in due course," the spokesperson added.