Garda corruption laws useless, says whistleblower

The Donegal-based garda, who made damning allegations of corruption against high-ranking superiors, said the accountability legislation is currently useless and rife with shortcomings.

Richard Humphries SC, for Garda Fowley, asked tribunal chairman Frederick Morris to demand the laws be strengthened in his forthcoming report expected later this year.

The lawyer said the Garda Siochana Reporting of Corruption and Malpractice Regulations, signed into law by then Justice Minister Michael McDowell in April, are presently unworkable.

He insisted a complaint can only be made in accordance with a charter which has yet to be drawn up, effectively making the regulations useless two months after they were signed into law.

“More fundamentally though, chairman, there’s the fact that the regulations continue the system, to put it in shorthand, of guards investigating guards,” he told Mr Justice Morris.

“In my respectful submission, chairman, a serious question does arise as to whether that is a satisfactory mechanism for raising concerns.”

Mr Humphries said the regulations had not been scrutinised by the Oireachtas and failed to protect adequately against discrimination towards gardai uncovering malpractice.

“It doesn’t protect against discrimination against the person, for example, or other adverse acts in terms of their career,” he insisted.

“A person could be, to speak colloquially, sent to Coventry, assigned peripheral tasks, denied promotion and so on.”

The legislation was hailed as a new offensive on cover-ups within the force which would boost accountability and public trust in An Garda Siochana after damaging revelations from the Morris Tribunal.

Separately, the tribunal heard that Donegal publican Frank McBrearty Senior asked a former employee to say she typed a letter containing serious allegations against senior gardaí.

Law student Kathleen Sweeney said she couldn’t remember if she did type up the document when she was working part-time for the nightclub owner during the summer of 2000.

She told the hearings Mr McBrearty Snr called to her house in March of this year and asked her as “a favour” to sign the document saying she was the typist.

Ms Sweeney said although she couldn’t recall the letter she signed it so as the publican would leave her alone that Sunday afternoon.

“To be honest I was extremely tired, I was just after two weeks of solid exams and I was like, right, whatever, here you go, go away now give me an hour’s peace type of thing,” she said.

The letter contained allegations similar to those in a document faxed to Fine Gael Justice spokesman Jim Higgins in June 2000 central to the setting up of the tribunal.

Mr McBrearty Snr claimed that he received the allegations anonymously in the post.