Government must sanction enquiry into Limerick Garda cases
Government must sanction enquiry into Limerick Garda cases - The Labour Party
Following the decision of the DPP to not prosecute another three Limerick Gardai on perverting the course of justice, Labour’s justice spokesperson Alan Kelly TD said it is now time for the Minister for Justice enact an enquiry into Limerick Garda cases.
Deputy Kelly urged Minister O’Callaghan to honour the commitment of his Taoiseach to have an enquiry into what happened in Limerick in relation to a range of internal enquiries that commenced during the tenure of the previous Gardai Commissioner.
Deputy Kelly said that there is no reason now not to.
Deputy Kelly said:
“News that the DPP decided not to prosecute another three Gardai in Limerick follows on from the outcome of a recent trial whereby a retired superintendent, two Sargents and two Gardai were found not guilty of perverting the course of justice. This prosecution had commenced 7 years previously.
“Additionally a number of other Gardai who were suspended for years have been told that they can go back to work and there a number of related cases also that are deeply worrying.
“The decision by the DPP yesterday is welcome, but it does raise many questions.
“Why did it take so long? Why did it happen so soon after the recent Limerick Garda trial which the State lost? Why did it happen so soon after the withdrawal of the suspension of a number of their other colleagues?
“Finally the DPP decision yesterday raises serious questions as to why these cases went forward in the first place as they had separate evidence to other cases and until recently these members were told that there was strong cases against them?
“It seems that once the recent Garda case of the retired superintendent and four members was lost by the State, the whole house of cards in relation to the investigations in the region has fallen down.
“It’s obvious now that many of the cases were interlinked and the overwhelming evidence given at that trial showed there was not possibility of prosecution. This is deeply worrying.
“The following questions form some of the basis of why we need an enquiry into what happened:
- Why did An Garda Siochana pursue such actions against their own members in Limerick given the lack of evidence?
- Why was Limerick the only area where this volume of prosecutions happened?
- Why were Senior Gardai and members in other divisions not prosecuted given the access to supposed similar evidence with them too
- Why did the DPP pursue these cases given the lack of real evidence for such prosecutions?
- Why did An Garda Siochana un-suspend members after 5 years all of a sudden following the outcome of the Limerick Garda trial?
- How could the DPP withdraw the prosecution of 3 other members on perverting the course of justice so soon after the outcome of the Limerick Garda trial and after saying the evidence against them was very strong?
- How much has all this and other related cases cost the state, these members and the State in:
- Loss in Garda time in Limerick and through specialist agencies like the NBCI
- Loss of prosecutions due to lack of Gardai working in the MidWest, particularly in roads policing
- Crimes being committed by criminals who should have been arrested but weren’t prosecuted because of these cases being ongoing for so long
- These Gardai having their lives absolutely destroyed because they were wrongly prosecuted and the impact of this on them and their families and indeed the force in the MidWest
- These retired and serving Gardai suing the state for the way in which they were treated.
“What happened in Limerick over the last 7 years is a national scandal. I have been perusing this for years.
“The dogs on the street knew this was wrong. The morale of the force in the Midwest has collapsed. The members both serving and retired deserve redress and for all of this to be investigated by the State.
“There are no excuses left for not doing so. Minister Jim O’Callaghan must act now and ensure this happens.”