McDowell: Retired garda's role in recruitment a mistake
It was a mistake to allow a retired senior garda, who was criticised by the Morris Tribunal, to help hire Garda Reservists, the Tánaiste told the Dáil today.
Former superintendent John Fitzgerald was criticised in 2005 by Mr Justice Frederick Morris for leading the "utterly negligent" investigation into the death of cattle dealer Richie Barron in 1996.
However, it emerged that the officer sat on an interview panel to select Garda Reserve applicants in Sligo in recent months.
It is understood he fulfilled the role for one day before being recognised by an applicant who was also a retired garda.
Minister for Justice Michael McDowell told the Dáil today that it was a mistake to put Mr Fitzgerald on the interview panel and the Garda Commissioner had no knowledge of the decision.
He said: “Of course it was a mistake to put that person on that board. I don’t know precisely how that mistake took place but it will not be repeated.
“It wasn’t brought to the commissioner’s attention and it obviously would not have been something he would have approved of if it was brought to his attention.
“This was somebody who made an erroneous decision, somebody who should have thought carefully about it and didn’t. The decision was not taken at the level it should have been, at commissioner level, and Commissioner Conroy would not have approved of it.”
Raising the issue during Dáil questions, Green TD Ciarán Cuffe said: “In order for An Garda Síochána to regain its position as the respected and trusted protector of the peace, the organisation must root out a small but disproportionately influential core of mischief-making members who have damaged the reputation of the force with such detrimental effect.
“How can we weed them out when retired members of the force, linked so closely to wrongdoing in Co Donegal, are brought in to recruit new members of the force?”
The TD also criticised the lack of communication between the Department of Justice and An Garda Síochána and queried what measures were in place to prevent an occurrence of such an inappropriate appointment.
Mr Fitzgerald was the district officer in Letterkenny from the time of Mr Barron’s death in October 1996 until February 1997, when he moved to a new post in Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim.
In its reports of June 2005, the Morris Tribunal said that, while Mr Fitzgerald was an able and experienced officer, he had made a fundamental error in failing to request the then state pathologist Professor John Harbison to attend the scene of Mr Barron’s death.
The tribunal concluded that Prof. Harbison could have clarified that the cattle dealer had died in a hit-and-run and that the subsequent murder investigation would never have been launched.
