Garda Síochána malpractice allegations

Since 2013, allegations have surfaced that the Garda Síochána (Ireland's national police force) has been involved in malpractice, including allegations that members had inappropriately cancelled driving penalty points, that the offices of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) had been bugged, revelations that telephone calls at Garda stations had been recorded for decades, the case of Jerry McGrath (who was convicted of murdering Sylvia Roche-Kelly in Limerick while on bail in 2007) and other allegations of serious Garda misconduct.

Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan resigned on the day news emerged that the potentially illegal phone recording had taken place at Garda stations for decades. He had been under pressure before then to withdraw remarks he had made an Oireactas (Parliamentary) committee that whistleblowers within the force, such as Sergeant Maurice McCabe and John Wilson, were "disgusting".

Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter, resigned after receipt of a report into the handling of Garda whistleblowers by the Department of Justice and the Garda Síochána. A week previous to this, the Data Protection Commissioner found he had illegally revealed Garda information about a political opponent while debating the issue of cancelled penalty points live on national television.

Both men had been embroiled in a controversy at the beginning of 2014 regarding suspected bugging of GSOC.

A commission of investigation was set up into the recording of telephone calls at Garda stations. A report into allegations of misconduct raised by one of the whistleblowers substantially vindicated the whistleblowers position and was critical of the Garda Síochána and the Department of Justice.

A report into the suspected bugging of GSOC was dismissive two of the three anomalies discovered by GSOC. A third anomaly could not be explained but the report did not regard that as proof that bugging took place.

In September 2013, a report of the Irish Comptroller and Auditor General said that significant revenue had been lost by the state owing to irregularities in the application of the penalty points system for driving offences. The Garda Commissioner, Martin Callinan, appearing thefore the Public Accounts Committee of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature) on 23 January 2014, said there was no evidence that Gardaí had cancelled penalty points for relatives or friends. Referring to two Whistleblowers, Garda Maurice McCabe and former Garda John Wilson, who had made allegations of widespread corruption with regard to penalty points, Callinan said, "Frankly, on a personal level, I think it’s quite disgusting.” McCabe gave evidence in private to the Public Accounts Committee on 30 January. A Garda Inspectorate report, published on 12 March 2014, said there were "consistent and widespread breaches of policy" in regard to penalty points. Callinan came under increasing pressure to withdraw the "disgusting" remark, and resigned on 25 March 2014.

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Wikipedia