A year of scandals and departures from office
Security correspondent reflects on the revelations that damaged the reputation of Ireland’s policing and justice system during 2017.
The omens for the policing and justice system were good at the start of the year.
The then commissioner, Nóirín O’Sullivan, was enjoying what turned out to be the calm before the storm.
The publication in January of a Garda Code of Ethics should have been a marker for the year ahead.
At a high-profile launch, attended by Ms O’Sullivan, then justice minister Frances Fitzgerald, and Policing Authority chair Josephine Feehily, the code was being heralded as a “beacon” for ethical behaviour.
The commissioner said that working ethically was not just a “tick box exercise” and that all gardaí have to “live this code”.
The first batch of applicants for the planned 800 new recruits during 2017 started in Templemore Training College in January.
There were some signs in January of the ‘landmines’ ahead, when Ms O’Sullivan was asked about reports in The Sunday Times of an internal Garda audit raising financial issues at Templemore. She said these were “very much legacy issues” that were mainly to do with “accounting standards”.
The public focus remained on the positive during January, with gardaí scoring continued successes against the Kinahan crime cartel, thwarting attempted assassinations of rivals in the Hutch grouping, and making multiple drugs and firearms seizures.
Topping that off was a decision by the Supreme Court giving the Criminal Assets Bureau the green light to take the last of properties belonging to former crime boss John Gilligan.
But events began to unravel as February progressed, starting with a report in The Irish Times that the force had ordered a national audit of breath test records after an examination in Cork and Kerry revealed Garda Pulse records were 17% above those recorded by the actual devices.
A few days after that, Josephine Feehily went on the Today with Sean O’Rourke show and said the authority had “a degree of confidence” in the commissioner to do her job.
Ms Feehily made the comment in the context of Ms O’Sullivan attempting to deal with both the allegations at the Disclosure Tribunal — that she was part, or aware, of attempts to blacken Sergeant Maurice McCabe’s name — and driving reform in the organisation.
Ms Feehily did add that the commissioner should not be pressed into stepping aside pending the tribunal. But for someone so careful, her comments were like a Sword of Damocles hanging over the commissioner’s head.
The following month, it appeared that sword might drop.
The double set of revelations in the third week of March was so colossal that it took time for them to hit home.
First, almost one million recorded breath tests over a five-year period — about half of the total — had never actually happened.
The authority said the scale of the breath test discrepancies was “further evidence of deep cultural problems” in the organisation, where “such behaviour was possible”.Second, there were almost 15,000 drivers who had been wrongly convicted of penalty point offences — and the State faced an unknown financial and legal fallout.
Oireachtas parties were gearing up, and, on top of no-confidence motions against Commissioner O’Sullivan by other opposition parties (which, although having no legal basis, had enormous political ramifications) Fianna Fáil adopted what turned out to be varying degrees of no-confidence in the Garda boss.
With Fine Gael dependent on Fianna Fáil to stay in power, this put a different complexion on things.
When the commissioner did hold a press conference, she said that consequences arising out of the breath test scandal, including possible disciplinary action, would be considered.
But she indicated she would not be stepping down, regardless of any motion calling for this in the Dáil.
She said an internal fact-finding mission would be conducted by assistant commissioner Michael O’Sullivan.
In April, the authority expressed concerns with the commissioner over the accuracy of homicide figures, an issue that would bubble away during the year.
The pressure ratcheted up in May with the Public Accounts Committee’s examination — all under the glare of television — of the bizarre finances at Templemore College and the findings of the Garda internal audit by Niall Kelly.
What shocked even seasoned observers was, firstly, marked disagreements between Garda HR boss John Barrett and Commissioner O’Sullivan on the nature and length of a key meeting, and, secondly and more disturbingly, the vehement divisions between Mr Barrett and Garda finance chief Michael Culhane.
Garda documents, circulating like confetti around the Oireachtas, underlined the fractures within Garda HQ.
Sandwiched between controversies and scandals was the relatively low-key launch of the Policing Commission.
This State expert group was tasked with developing a blueprint for long-term reform and restructuring of the organisation — akin to the Patten Commission in the North.
At the launch, Policing Commission chair Kathleen O’Toole said the commissioner and her management team had “inherited a poisoned chalice” and said that there would be calls for the head of the commissioner regardless of whether it was Ms O’Sullivan or someone else.
“I think we need to get beyond the finger-pointing and the name-calling,” Ms O’Toole said.
At the end of May, it emerged that gardaí also had concerns about the quality of their domestic violence figures, an issue confirmed to the Irish Examiner by the Central Statistics Office.
In June, GSOC’s annual report was published, which raised a range of serious concerns and, later that month, the ombudsman reported a surge in Garda whistleblower complaints.
The commissioner was dealt a serious blow in June when the State’s financial watchdog criticised her for failing to mention possible financial irregularities at Templemore in a formal accounting notification to him.
The intervention by Comptroller and Auditor General Seamus McCarthy was made at a PAC hearing. On the same day, Ms O’Sullivan told the committee she had referred concerns by auditor Niall Kelly about possible fraud at Templemore to GSOC for investigation.
Also in June, before the authority, there were further concerns over the accuracy of homicide figures — this time regarding 89 homicides that had not been reported to the CSO because they had not been correctly flagged on Pulse. As the major controversies dominated the headlines, one positive development got little attention: The promotion of 15 senior officers to the rank of chief superintendent after the biggest ever independent selection process carried out by the authority. That was extended to superintendent promotions in July and followed appointments to assistant commissioner level. During June, there was a changing of the guard, so to speak, with Frances Fitzgerald moving to Business and Enterprise and Charlie Flanagan taking over in Justice.
July was another bruising month for the organisation and, personally for Ms O’Sullivan.
At another testing PAC appearance, the commissioner was unable to clearly clarify if concerns regarding Garda evidence at the ‘Jobstown’ trial would form part of an internal review.
Allegations had been made that Garda witnesses in the prosecution gave inaccurate evidence.
Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald accused the commissioner of “filibustering” and “damaging confidence” in the organisation. Soon after, PAC published its first report into Templemore College, which heaped on the criticism of the commissioner.
It found that Ms O’Sullivan was “not accurate” in her reporting on financial matters to the C&AG. It said she should have informed the C&AG of the issues “without delay” and that her failure to do so was “unacceptable”.
The committee rejected the commissioner’s contention that she took “decisive action” on learning of financial issues in July 2015. The report said there was a “persistent reluctance” within Garda management to inform relevant oversight bodies” and noted “profound professional disagreement” among senior management.
It should be pointed out that many members of the committee had previously called on the commissioner to go. But Ms O’Sullivan’s apparently endless ability to exasperate and frustrate members in answering questions did her no favours.
Though bloodied and bruised, the commissioner remained standing.
Another drama erupted around the commissioner’s forthcoming lengthy holiday (during August and into September) and what notification she gave to the authority. Following a private meeting with the authority, it emerged that the Garda ‘Jobstown’ review would take in evidence at the trial.
There were reports (spun from within political circles, which turned out to be untrue) that the commissioner had applied for a top job in Europol, the EU police agency.
Just after her return in early September, the O’Sullivan (internal Garda) report into breath test and penalty point convictions was published, though on the day, the commissioner was out of the country on what was said to be a scheduled international event.
The O’Sullivan report identified 1.45m false breath tests over a seven-year period, due to a combination of systemic and technological factors, as well as “inflation” by members. The report did not discover behaviour that would merit criminal investigation but said incidents had been referred to regional commissioners for examination.
It said Garda management, by failing to review the capacity of members to carry out checkpoints, “intentionally or inadvertently” applied pressure and this was a “contributory cause” of the inflation.
The GRA pushed this farther and claimed members operated under “duress” and were told to “inflate” figures.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar called for gardaí found guilty of falsifying breath tests to face disciplinary action, while Minister Flanagan said those responsible should be punished for bringing the force into disrepute.
Then, in a further twist to continuing concerns aired at authority meetings about Garda homicide statistics, came a statement from the CSO that it was postponing for a second time the publication of Garda statistics because of concerns over homicide data.
Days later, the sword suddenly fell, with the shock retirement of Ms O’Sullivan, departing with a tax-free lump sum approaching €300,000 and an annual pension of around €90,000.
It threw the appointment process for the new commissioner into the air as we were now in new territory, given the emergence of the authority. Already there was predictable talk of having to increase the salary to attract the necessary talent.
Mr Flanagan quickly indicated that the authority was researching the matter and efforts to establish an appointment process were under way.
Meanwhile, the authority reported that only a fifth of reform actions that had been recommended by the Garda Inspectorate and marked as complete by Garda HQ were, in fact, completed.
Towards the end of September, Policing Commission chair Kathleen O’Toole made a dramatic intervention in relation to the appointment of a new commissioner.
In a letter to Mr Flanagan, which she shared on social media, Ms O’Toole told the minister the authority believed it would be a “serious mistake” to proceed with the selection until the commission had reported in September 2018.
It said its work would “without doubt” affect the role and responsibilities of the commissioner and that it wasn’t realistic to expect “credible candidates” before its work was done.
This threatened to push the process well into 2019, something the Government decided to ignore, and this month began the process (a development Ms O’Toole recently told the Irish Examiner she was now happy with, given her belief that a “thoughtful and effective” process would take place).
The authority’s independent review of the breath test and fixed charge notice scandals, the Crowe Horwath report, was published in early November. It blamed poor IT systems, a lack of training and supervision, management pressure, as well as a culture that enabled “unethical behaviour by Garda members who falsified checkpoint data”.
While Crowe said the priority should be rectifying the problem rather than pursuing past wrongdoing, there were renewed calls for action, not least from the Taoiseach and Justice Minister.
Authority chair Josephine Feehily said she was particularly concerned at the Garda culture, where she said members found it “easier to inflate or falsify figures” than to “speak up”.
She gave acting commissioner Dónall Ó Cualáin, who apologised for the scandal, three weeks to set out his plan of action at their next public meeting.
When that came to pass, the acting Garda boss told the authority there would be no disciplinary action, given the evidence wasn’t there to pursue disciplinary action and that it would take an “inordinate amount of time” to examine if there was any.
Just when she thought she had left the justice version of ‘Anglo’ behind her, former justice minister Frances Fitzgerald was sucked back into the policing vortex.
The email controversy — detailing the department’s and the minister’s awareness of then-commissioner O’Sullivan’s legal strategy against Sgt McCabe — turned the spotlight on the department itself, and its handling of the issue, not least its failure to locate the key emails for the Disclosure Tribunal and to brief the Taoiseach so he could accurately inform the Dáil.
Political pressure from Fianna Fáil eventually led to Ms Fitzgerald having to step down as Tánaiste.
In an unprecedented development, the Taoiseach slammed the “dysfunction” within the Department of Justice.
Within hours, the secretary general of the Department of Justice, Noel Waters, delivered another shock, by retiring with immediate effect (after previously signalling his intention to go in February).
It left both the department and the gardaí without a full-time boss.
The issue again highlighted to what extent the reforms recommended in the 2014 Toland report on the department had been implemented, and resulted in the Taoiseach appointing a barrister to examine the email fiasco.
Not only that, senior department officials and Ms Fitzgerald are to appear before the Disclosure Tribunal in January on the matter.
At the end of November, the Garda Public Attitudes Survey found mixed results, with only 36% believing the organisation was “well managed” (down 5% on same period last year), but 84% still saying gardaí were “friendly and helpful”. Worrying, though, was the falling number of victims of crime satisfied with the response of gardaí, with only half of them happy.
At the start of December, there was a GSOC report on penalty point cancellations in 2014 and 2015 (stemming from earlier complaints from Sgt McCabe).
It said it had to abandon attempts to investigate gardaí for criminal conduct as the task was too big, their budget too small, and the prospect of successful prosecutions too weak.
But it criticised the Garda force for not disciplining members.
The force got a brief break with the interim report of the Disclosure Tribual, which completely rejected allegations against gardaí and social workers made by Garda Keith Harrison and his partner, Marisa Simms.
Up next, 2018. But there was precious little relief all year for the organisation, and its members, many of whom risk life and limb in their daily grind, whether dealing with public disorder, domestic violence, or gangland.
Former commissioners Callinan and O’Sullivan are up before the Disclosure Tribunal; so too protected discloser Supt David Taylor, on the alleged Garda strategy to blacken Sgt McCabe’s name.
There are other reports due, not least from a busy GSOC, including one relating to the Garda strategy against Sgt McCabe, publication of the Ian Bailey report, the Templemore College fraud investigation, and one relating to the murder of Garda Tony Golden.
