Trenchant criticism of a culture of indiscipline within An Garda Síochána generally and of individual members of the force is expected today in three reports from the Morris tribunal. Christine Newman and Stephen Collins report
The latest reports to be published will highlight a staggering level of indiscipline and insubordination in the force and is understood to characterise the attitude of some gardaí in Donegal as turning the county into a playground for mischief.
The reports by chairman Mr Justice Frederick Morris will emphasise that the culture of indiscipline was not confined to Donegal but also exists elsewhere.
Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has been preparing a new code of discipline for the force since he received the reports some months ago and has received Government approval for the publication of new draft disciplinary regulations. It is understood that the Morris tribunal has advised the Government of the need to urgently tackle the problem of discipline within the force.
The tribunal reports suggest that because of the legal formalism of the existing Garda disciplinary procedures they can be used to delay and frustrate simple and straightforward disciplinary investigations. The Minister said recently that the code of discipline has such an overlay of procedures appropriate to the criminal courts that a normal disciplinary procedure is as complex as a murder trial.
The tribunal is emphatic that police work requires the safeguard of strict internal discipline, with structures of strict accounting and with a swift method of disposing of members who are causing real problems. The draft regulations will introduce just such a swift method. A simple appeals process will be incorporated into those regulations.
The Morris tribunal already has published two reports which contained scathing criticism of some gardaí and structures within An Garda Síochána.
The Minister will publish three more reports later today. The first, known as the Silver Bullet, is based on allegations by Bernard Conlon that Det Sgt John White told him to make false statements to set up the McBreartys. The gardaí in Donegal suspected the McBreartys of being involved in the death of Richie Barron, who, the tribunal has since found, was a hit-and-run victim. Sgt White has vehemently denied all allegations.
The second module was heard in private at the tribunal. It involved the accusation that Det Sgt John White planted a shotgun in a Travellers' camp in Burnfoot, Co Donegal, and seven people were arrested. Sgt White was acquitted of the charge last month in Letterkenny Circuit Court. The third report concerns an incendiary device being planted by an unknown person on a television mast at Ardara.