Reputation of gardaí tarnished

The decision of the three judges of the Court of Criminal Appeal that Frank Shortt was a victim of a miscarriage of justice was not just a vindication of his good name.

It was also probably the most blistering indictment of the Garda Síochána since the foundation of the State.

The court found Mr Short’s conviction for allowing his premises to be used for drug dealing was based on perjured garda testimony as well as evidence deliberately falsified by gardaí. Mr Shortt displayed exemplary magnanimity in his comments outside the court afterwards.

“Just because there were one or two rotten apples,” he said, “you cannot condemn the whole force. I think we’re lucky in this country that we do have, by and large, a pretty decent bunch of policemen.” Of course, he added he did not believe the garda authorities had done their job in trying to root out the bad apples.

The record of Garda Síochána has been seriously tarnished by this affair, not just because of the utterly outrageous conduct of a couple of gardaí, but even more so in relation to the force’s subsequent handling of the squalid saga.

The gardaí have been exposed as utterly incapable of investigating themselves, which must raise serious questions about their ability to investigate anybody else.