Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 23 May 2018
31. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if he is satisfied with the handling of a protected disclosure initiated over four years ago from a garda in relation to the involvement of a member of the force in the heroin trade in Athlone; the steps he has taken in relation to the matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22809/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraLast week marked the commencement of the fifth year since Garda Nick Keogh made his formal complaints about conspiracy to supply heroin involving a civilian, a Garda detective and a chief superintendent who had failed to act on that information, and indeed, supplied the Garda detective with a telephone. The allegations were upheld in an investigation conducted by the acting Garda Commissioner, Dónall Ó Cualáin, and yet, over four years on, nobody has been charged and nobody has been arrested. What is the Minister doing in respect of this matter? Is he satisfied with the way it is being dealt with? When can we see action being taken?
Deputy Clare Daly will be aware from previous questions on this issue that the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 was enacted to allow employees to bring alleged wrongdoing to the attention of the appropriate authorities. The Act also affords important protections to persons making protected disclosures and specifically included the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, as a designated body for receipt of protected disclosures. The protections afforded under the Act include protection from dismissal and other forms of penalisation and for the protection of the identity of persons making disclosures.
The protected disclosure that the Deputy refers to was not made to me, as Minister. As I understand it, the protected disclosure was made directly to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission by the member named by the Deputy. This House will be well aware of the independence of GSOC and I need not labour the issue, except to state that GSOC's statutory independence prevents me from interfering in any matter that that body is currently investigating. That is the guarantee of the independence of GSOC and the guarantee to persons making complaints that their complaints will be considered independently and free from outside interference and particularly free from any form intervention in this House.
I have full confidence in the role that GSOC plays in investigating complaints of wrongdoing in the Garda, including protected disclosures from members. I urge Deputy Clare Daly to allow GSOC the time and space necessary to carry out its investigations. Often what may seem like a simple enough issue to the member in question conceals a large degree and layer of complex legal issues involved. The Deputy should bear in mind that GSOC has a responsibility to persons making complaints, as well as to those against whom allegations are made and I want to see a full, complete and impartial investigation in order to allow the independent body arrive at the truth.
I do not know whether the Minister is playing dumb or he just does not get it. He will not escape behind this and this will haunt him unless he starts dealing with it properly.
The Minister states GSOC needs time. It is the fifth year since this complaint was made. It involves gardaí involved in the heroin trade in the Minister's constituency. One young man has died - possibly two - as a result of that heroin supply. A garda remains suspended at present for colluding with criminals but nobody has been charged or arrested.
There was an internal Garda investigation, as the Minister will be aware. Subsequently, GSOC was given the file, which was delayed and disrupted by the Garda for five months. The Minister knows GSOC has concluded that investigation but it cannot publish its findings because the Garda states it has not finished its investigation. I am seriously wondering is this biding for time a tactic to allow the clock to be wound down until the garda at the centre of this or the chief superintendent behind him reaches retirement age, which is coming up in the next year and a half.
We are all in favour of impartial investigations but a process which does not deliver in its fifth year is disgraceful, considering the very serious allegations at the heart of this.
Deputy Clare Daly has again made serious allegations in the House. If I have not done so before, I say to her now that she has a responsibility to act accordingly in respect of any information which she has or which comes across her desk in respect of the alleged commission of a crime. I trust that she has done so. I want to again emphasise that I have no authority to direct the Garda Commissioner in matters concerning the control or operation and direction of An Garda Síochána, nor can I, as Minister for Justice and Equality or a Member of the House, interfere in any investigation undertaken or being undertaken by the force. This may be difficult for Deputy Clare Daly to accept, but she and others know that they would be very quick to point out to me the flaws in any system which would allow the Minister for Justice and Equality to interfere in any way with the role of the Garda Commissioner or to seek to direct the Garda Commissioner or exercise any undue influence over him or her as to the manner in which he or she might handle a workplace issue or investigation.
Nobody is asking the Minister to interfere with anything. It was pointed out to the Minister more than a year ago that the investigations have concluded. The Minister for Justice and Equality calls these organisations to account. It is a fact that An Garda Síochána breached existing protocols with GSOC and refused to hand over files for five months. It is a fact that An Garda Síochána refused GSOC's request to sit in on the disciplinary hearings on behalf of four gardaí who were found guilty of wrongdoing.
The only thing that has happened since the investigation concluded is that nobody has been penalised except the poor eejit who made the protected disclosure in the first instance and who has been out of work, sick, bullied and harassed. People who undermined him in the workplace have been promoted since then. The Minister sent us a letter last December referring to a discussion we had last July - almost a year ago. At that time, he gave the same answer as that which he has just provided. Does the Minister think it is acceptable that these organisations sit on reports for years on end and nothing happens? That is the type of justice we have in Ireland in this day and age.
A request was made by my Department on 12 February for an update on the investigation. The chair responded to advise that as matters referred to a protected disclosure under the Act, no information could be provided at that time. I want to remind the House yet again that I am awaiting the outcome of any investigation which An Garda Síochána or GSOC is engaged in. I want to remind Deputy Clare Daly that term of reference [p] of the disclosures tribunal covers complaints by members of the Garda who made protected disclosures prior to 16 February 2016 or who were, as a result, in any way discredited or targeted with the knowledge or acquiescence of senior members of An Garda Síochána. That may well be a channel through which the Deputy may wish to pursue this matter.
