Case of senior garda who used official channels to import parts later given to gun club referred to DPP

The internal Garda investigation was completed in late 2024, over five years after it was submitted. Picture: Denis Minihane

The garda ombudsman has sent a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions regarding alleged criminality by a senior garda who imported gun parts through official channels that ended up with a private gun club.

The garda was completely cleared of any wrongdoing in an internal Garda Síochána inquiry. However, Fiosrú, formerly known as Gsoc, conducted its own investigation and referred it to the DPP.

Both Fiosrú and the internal inquiry investigated a protected disclosure that the senior garda had used his official powers to import gun parts that ultimately were given to the private gun club. 

The bill for the parts was settled by An Garda Síochána. As part of the importation, the Department of Justice had to provide authorisation, which was obtained under the claim that the firearm parts were for An Garda Síochána.

The internal Garda investigation was completed in late 2024, over five years after it was submitted.

It made no recommendation of any action, even disciplinary, against the senior garda. It also suggested that nothing in what was uncovered could be classified as potential criminality.

The investigation found that the guns made their way back to the gun club from Garda HQ. It confirmed that the Gardaí bore the cost of the whole operation.

The internal report’s author merely related the senior garda’s excuse that he was involved in this matter in order to get parts for training members of the force in firearm use. 

This was despite the fact that the firearm in question was not in use by any section of the Gardaí.

The report also noted that the garda might have an excuse for transporting the weapons in his private car between the gun club and Garda HQ under a little-used 1925 act. Ordinarily, it would be an offence to carry such weapons in a private car.

The report was furnished to the Garda Commissioner in November 2024, but the minister for justice was not informed. This is despite there being a provision in law that the minister must be informed if a significant issue arises.

The garda member who made the protected disclosure internally that led to the report also made a disclosure on the same matter to Fiosrú, the garda ombudsman. 

It has now emerged that Fiosrú has completed its investigation, and sent a file on the matter to the DPP.

A spokesperson for Fiosrú said it had no comment to make on any inquiries of this nature.

“Pursuant to the provisions of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, as amended, Fiosrú is precluded from either confirming or denying the existence of protected disclosures made to it,” the spokesperson said. 

“Fiosrú is equally precluded from disclosing or discussing any operational or other matters that may arise from disclosures it may receive.”