The Sunday Business Post of 11 February contains a report in which it is alleged that five members of An Garda Síochána and a civilian fleet manager of the Garda transport division went on trips to Spain, Italy and Portugal organised and paid for by Advance Pit-Stop Tyre Company in the period 1997 to 1999 and that they also were taken for a two day trip to Manchester which included a visit to Coronation Street studios at Granada Television and attending a Manchester United European Champions League tie. All of the trips listed appear also to have included various rounds of golf on well known golf courses.
It is alleged that all of the gardaí concerned are attached to the Garda transport section at Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park. While Oliver Hanlon, the Garda civilian fleet manager described the visits to the paper as "fact-finding trips" and explained invitations received stated the gardaí concerned would be inspecting tyre factories, it is reported that none of the trips involved visits to tyre factories. On the surface, it seems that these trips were simply holidays or junkets organised by the tyre company for the benefit of gardaí involved in the Garda transport section with which Advance Pit-Stop does substantial business.
Oliver Hanlon is reported as informing the Sunday Business Post that Advance Pit-Stop sells An Garda Síochána more than £600,000 worth of tyres per annum. While this allegedly represents less than 5% of Advance Pit-Stops annual sales, it also represents the largest contract held by the company, providing about 7,000 tyres a year to An Garda Síochána. The Garda Press Office, an agency paid for by taxpayers of this State is quoted as giving the following explanation for the trips:
If there is a benefit to an Garda Síochána and no cost to the taxpayer, then consideration is given to attending seminars and visiting manufacturing processes. These decisions are made on the basis of the benefit to be accrued by the organisation.
It seems clear from the reports, if accurate, that these trips did not involve attendance at any seminars whatsoever nor did they involve visiting manufacturing processes. The Garda Press Office is also quoted as stating that the trips would have been authorised by the officer in charge of the transport section in conjunction with the fleet manager. The Garda spokesman confirmed that the gardaí who travelled to Spain, Italy, Portugal and Manchester as guests of Advance Pit-Stop were "on duty" although Oliver Hanlon, the civilian fleet manager, had taken leave of absence for some trips.
Members of An Garda Síochána must at all times act in a manner which is consistent with their public duty and with the public interest and their behaviour must be beyond reproach. The gardaí engaged in procurement activities and civilian managers who engage in such activities on behalf of the gardaí must never be seen to have a conflict of interest, nor should there be any suspicion that they might succumb to the blandishments of companies from which An Garda Síochána obtains supplies and does business. It is essential that offers of hospitality and travel from companies are not accepted in circumstances which could give rise to a conflict of interest or be perceived as improper.
To date, no suggestion has been made that the purchases made by An Garda Síochána from Advance Pit-Stop should not have been made or that sums paid for tyres purchased were not agreed as a result of a competitive tendering process or for a price in excess of what other companies could offer. Serious questions must be asked, however, as to the reason one of the country's leading tyre suppliers, which over a number of years has secured a major tyre supply contract with the Garda Síochána, felt the need to spend an estimated £45,000 taking senior technical staff from the Garda transport section on the trips detailed. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform should tell the House what he knows of these trips and what inquiries he has made to date with the Garda Commissioner about what occurred. On the face of it, these trips are questionable and highly inappropriate and raise serious issues about the motives and business morality of Advance Pit-Stop and about the judgment of the Garda members who participated in them.
It is in the public interest that an inquiry be held into what occurred and that terms of reference be conferred on that inquiry to compel both the gardaí involved, the Garda civilian fleet manager and directors and employees of Advance Pit-Stop involved in the trips to explain these events and the relationship to the Garda procurement activities.
This is not merely an internal Garda matter but a matter of considerable public concern. It is cause for the Garda Commissioner, in the context of what he knows about these matters to date, to consider whether those members of the Garda Síochána involved who are still attached to the transport section should, for the time being, be transferred to other duties or should continue their involvement with the transport division of the Garda Síochána.
