A man who had “a cosy relationship” with a serving garda who was under investigation for suspected criminal activity has avoided a jail term after the garda sent him information from the Garda Pulse system.
Niall Sheehy (59), who was running his own car sales business at the time, had initially looked to the garda to get information in relation to the registration of vehicles and anything gardaí may have on the owners that would be of interest to him because of his business.
Detective Sergeant Padraic Jennings told John Byrne SC, prosecuting, that Sheehy was not the target of a Garda operation, rather the investigation was being carried out on the wider activities of a serving member of An Garda Síochána.
Pulse screenshots
The home of this garda was searched in March 2020 and a phone belonging to him was seized. Subsequent analysis of this phone revealed that the garda had been sending screenshots from information on the Garda Pulse system onto Sheehy.
Det Sgt Jennings said that there were 10 such communications to Sheehy between June 2019 and February 2020. Sheehy’s home was subsequently searched, and he fully cooperated with the investigation.
The detective agreed with a suggestion from Mr Byrne that the information being sent on by the garda was as a result of “a cosy relationship” between Sheehy and the garda.
He confirmed that gardaí are satisfied that Sheehy was not involved in any criminal activity himself and that he only came to the attention of the investigation because of his communication with the garda.
Sheehy, of Ballinteskin, Stradbally, Laois pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to four sample charges of breaking section 145 of the Data Protection Act for disclosure of personal information obtained without authority on dates between June 2019 and February 2020.
Judge Martin Nolan said Sheehy got information in relation to vehicles he was interested in his business and, as such, his “culpability was on the lower side”.
He doesn’t deserve a prison term for what he did
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He accepted that he had worked all his life and was well regarded by those who knew him and in his local community.
Judge Nolan said in “certain circumstances” this type of crime would have had “serious consequences” but “this is not the situation here”.
“He doesn’t deserve a prison term for what he did,” the judge commented before he sentenced him to one year in prison which he suspended in full on strict conditions.
Det Sgt Jennings agreed with James Dwyer SC, defending, that his client has no connection to the wider Garda investigation and that he was simply identified because of his contact with the main suspect.
He further agreed that there was no money exchanged for the information Sheehy received.
Det Sgt Jennings accepted that Sheehy told gardaí that he never asked the man for Pulse information, and he wasn’t using any of the information he received.
“I see now it is not harmless. I said to him many times, ‘I don’t need story books’ but I should have put a stop to it,” Sheehy told gardaí in interview.
Mr Dwyer said his client is now driving trucks and forklifts for other people as his car sales business is now at an end.
He asked the court to accept the evidence from Det Sgt Jennings that there was no malice behind Sheehy’s receipt of this information.
