Garda malpractice claim should ‘be brought to Ombudsman’

Sinn Féin TD Martin Kenny should bring his allegations of Garda malpractice to the Garda Ombudsman or the Garda Commissioner, says Garda Representative Association representative for the Sligo Leitrim division, Garda Ray Wims.

Mr Wims told RTÉ's Morning Ireland: "I'm not aware that this TD has made any complaint to GSOC, or the Commissioner. We would be saying, if a member of Dáil Eireann has information or any knowledge of Garda malpractice in our area please bring it to the attention of the Garda Ombudsman or Commissioner. There has to be confidence in the system set up to investigate allegations."

Mr Kenny has called for a commission of investigation into alleged Garda malpractice, which he claims is ongoing in the Leitrim district. He alleged “rogue” gardaí were using criminal informants to entrap and prosecute people and also claimed senior officers were protecting the rogue gardaí and covering for them “with secrecy and denial”.

Mr Kenny also alleged gardaí were “running their own informants” outside the rules of the covert handling of intelligence Sources (CHIS) programme.

Mr Wims told RTÉ that a number of serious allegations could ‘break out’ every week against members of an Garda Síochána in the Dáil chamber under the protection of Dáil privilege. “Bring the complaint forward to a formal process and let’s investigate the matter formally,” he said.

“I don’t believe we can skip the process that is already there. The Garda Ombudsman is capable of dealing with this process. It seems everyone is looking for a Commission of Enquiry.

“We’d like an enquiry into why we’ve been stripped of resources, why we are under resourced, why we’ve been stripped of man power, stripped of over time. Between 2011 and 2014 there’s been a 50 per cent reduction of overtime available to members of the garda ranks for the investigation of crime in the Sligo Leitrim division.”

Mr Wims said the allegations in the Dáil had come as a complete surprise to him. “The vast majority of guards here in the division are working 24 hours a day but there’s no mention of the great work that gardaí are doing with less resources.

“We keep hearing about garda recruitment, but this division has only got five new recruits from Templemore - that’s to replace over 50 guards who have retired, been promoted or transferred.

Mr Kenny’s concerns over Garda malpractice have been brought to local garda management, the office of the Garda Commissioner and the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc) in 2010 and to the office of the Minister for Justice in 2012 and again in 2014.