Charges dropped against Limerick gardaí after investigation into fixing traffic tickets

Garda Peter O’Donnell, Garda Paul Baynham and Garda Niall Deegan.

Three gardaí in the Limerick division, due to stand trial on charges of perverting the course of justice, have been informed that all charges against them will be dropped.

Solicitors for the three, Garda Peter O’Donnell, Garda Paul Baynham and Garda Niall Deegan, were informed on Wednesday by the DPP that the charges will be formally dropped on March 25.

The three have been suspended from duty for the last six years following a highly controversial investigation by the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI) into fixing traffic tickets in Limerick. The plight of the three gardaí, who are members of the traffic corps, had attracted widespread support from their colleagues locally and the Garda Representative Association.

At an earlier point, the gardaí were informed that the evidence against them was strong and that if proven in court, they faced dismissal. It is unclear why the DPP now believes that the evidence gathered would not suffice for a successful prosecution.

The decision not to proceed follows the acquittal of four other gardaí, and retired superintendent Eamon O’Neill, last January on similar charges after a lengthy trial. This case and the one now to be dropped relied on entirely separate evidence concerning road traffic policing.

The four gardaí who were acquitted had their suspensions lifted the day after the case ended. During the course of the trial, garda witnesses called by the prosecution had spoken highly of the professionalism of the various defendants. It is expected that the three against whom a prosecution will not now proceed will also have their suspensions lifted.

A total of eight gardaí were suspended in November 2020 in relation to the investigations. The previous year, the NBCI had arrested Eamon O’Neill over connections with serious crime elements in the city. The DPP ruled that there was no case against the then superintendent. 

During that probe, the NBCI confiscated Mr O’Neill’s phone, where there were indications that he may have been involved in the fixing of tickets for a number of people, including members of the Limerick hurling panel. 

That morphed into a major criminal investigation in the city. The normal response to such a matter would be referral to a disciplinary process.

The two other gardaí who were suspended, but not charged with an offence, only had their suspension lifted in February, despite the DPP deciding last year not to prosecute.

Labour TD Alan Kelly has called for an inquiry into the whole matter to determine what exactly happened, and Fianna Fáil’s Cathal Crowe has repeatedly suggested the Garda Commissioner needs to apologise to those who were affected.