Gardaí sacked in wake of tribunal revelations
Two gardaí who are central to an inquiry into a mysterious hit-and-run which sparked the Morris Tribunal were tonight sacked from the force.
Donegal gardaí John O’Dowd and Padraig Mulligan became the latest officers to lose their jobs since the tribunal began probing allegations of corruption in the force in the 1990s.
Both were fired from An Garda Siochana on severely reduced pensions after a final appeal against an internal disciplinary hearing failed.
A legal source confirmed they were dismissed today after the appeals board turned down their final submission.
It is understood Garda Mulligan is aged 45, with four children, and Garda O’Dowd, 46, is single.
A garda source said it was a “dark day” for the men, who are effectively now “on the dole”.
The Morris Tribunal is currently examining the apparent hit-and-run death of cattle dealer Richie Barron in October 1996.
It has heard eye-witness accounts that both men, including Garda O’Dowd who was in plain clothes, were seen drinking in a pub in Lifford on the night of Mr Barron’s death.
Garda Mulligan, who had been in the force for 18-years, was on duty at the time.
The two local gardaí did not admit they were in a pub the night Mr Barron died until 2003.
In the opening statement of the Barron investigation module, Peter Charleton, counsel for the tribunal, said that Garda Mulligan, who was on duty at the time left the district with his off-duty colleague Garda O’Dowd.
They went to a pub which is known as Brannigan’s or Daly’s in Lifford.
Mr Charleton said the information was eventually extracted from the men through interviews with Chief Superintendent Brian Garvey of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
“We draw to your attention the extraordinary efforts made by the Carty investigation team to require members of An Garda Siochana to give an account of the time which they spent, supposedly in the service of the people of Ireland,” Mr Charleton said.
“Under the Tribunals of enquiry Act, 2002, a failure to answer the investigators questions is a criminal offence.”
The tribunal has also heard evidence that Garda O’Dowd was the handler for a petty criminal turned informer, who was believed to have connived to drive a murder investigation against Raphoe nightclub manager Frank McBrearty jnr.
Both gardaí also attended the scene of Mr Barron’s death, along with two others, and were heavily criticised for failing to preserve it and not informing any superiors when they learnt the cattle dealer had died.
The first Morris Tribunal report from Judge Frederick Morris on explosive finds in Donegal found that two members of an Garda Siochana, Superintendent Kevin Lennon and Detective Noel McMahon orchestrated the planting of ammunition and hoax explosives.
Seventeen other members of the force were also facing the possibility of disciplinary measures, some of them likely to be quite severe, in the wake of the findings.
Superintendent Lennon was dismissed from the force, while Detective Garda McMahon resigned, as did two others, including Chief Superintendent Denis Fitzpatrick.
