GSOC: No allegations made against Garda before death

The Garda Ombudsman has denied media reports a Garda sergeant was the subject of complaints prior to his death last week.

In a statement, the Garda Siochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) said an external review is being conducted into both the death of Sergeant Michael Galvin and the initial GSOC investigation which he was the focus of.

The Donegal-based officer took his own life at Ballyshannon Garda station in the early hours of May 28th.

He was being investigated by the oversight body following his involvement in a fatal traffic incident on New Year’s Day, and had been interviewed on May 20th.

A former intercounty hurler, footballer and coach with his native Sligo, the father-of-three was buried in Manorhamilton on Sunday.

In the statement, GSOC said no complaints were made against Sgt Galvin following the incident on January 1st, and that senior gardaí in Donegal had simply taken the routine step of referring the case on for external review.

“GSOC’s investigation concluded the following week and found no evidence of a criminal offence or a breach of discipline by any Garda member,” it said. “It is unusual that GSOC would share its findings at this point in the process.”

It said the parties involved in such an inquiry would normally be updated upon conclusion of the investigation, and would receive a further update upon the issuance of the Director of Public Prosecution’s final decision.

"We're just doing this because there were some incorrect reports in the newspapers last week saying that he was the subject of complaints, and we wanted to be clear that there have never been any allegations against him, and there was no finding of any breach of discipline in this investigation," a spokeswoman for GSOC told The Irish Times.

“It’s obviously a really sad situation, and it’s terrible that it seems the man was stressed about being involved in this investigation. It’s terrible that he seems to have been, according to what has been said by his family,” she said. “But it doesn’t appear to be anything unusual in terms of investigations from our side.”

GSOC has not received any representations in relation to Sgt Galvin’s death from senior members of the force, she added.