TD calls for monitoring of gardaí
An Oireachtas committee should be set up to monitor the Gardaí and ensure the recommendations laid out in the hard-hitting Morris Report are followed, it was claimed tonight.
Fine Gael’s justice spokesperson Jim O’Keeffe called for a government group to be established after a second senior garda, criticised for his role in Donegal during the early 1990s, handed in his resignation.
Superintendent John P O’Connor, who was the officer in charge of the Buncrana district in Donegal, made his decision after a meeting with Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy yesterday evening.
Another senior Garda, Chief Superintendent Denis Fitzpatrick, retired last week after the first 500-page report from Justice Frederick Morris into certain Garda activities in Donegal was published.
The Cork-South West TD said: “There should be a special security committee established.
“There should be regular reports to the committee by the justice minister, officials from the Department of Justice and senior Garda members on the running of the force and the recommendations from the Morris Tribunal and the SMI on an ongoing basis.”
Some 17 gardaí, including Mr Fitzpatrick and Mr O’Connor, are facing the threat of disciplinary charges for various alleged offences following publication of the report.
Mr O’Keeffe said: “Each of the officers concerned should be dealt with individually, some of them were very severely dealt with in the report, other less serious, so it is not possible to take them all in bulk.”
The TD said Mr O’Connor made the right decision in taking early retirement, along with Mr Fitzpatrick, from September 1 next.
He said: “Those who have to retire early get pension entitlements but it can result in major loss of income, less than half of their current salary.
“They may have had a number of good years of service left and maybe even promotion, there is the penalty in financial terms and they are also retiring under a cloud.”
Justice Morris found Mr O’Connor had tried to limit his role in the events while giving evidence to the tribunal.
It also found that Mr Fitzpatrick and Mr O’Connor had not asked obvious questions about home-made explosives in Bridgend in 1994.
The report found him ultimately responsible for all investigations carried out in his area and accused him of negligence in relation to investigating the activities of two officers who faked explosive finds.
The two senior officers had failed to properly examine information from Superintendent Kevin Lennon, Detective Garda Noel McMahon and Adrienne McGlinchey, who they claimed was an IRA informer.
Mr O’Connor had been in the force for 37-years and he was serving in Tralee when his early retirement was announced last night.
The Commissioner has begun proceedings to dismiss Det Garda McMahon from the force and the Government will consider the fate of Mr Lennon in September.
