McDowell rejects GRA call over McCabe killers

The Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, today rejected calls by the Garda Representative Association (GRA) to remove the special privileges enjoyed by the killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe.

A GRA spokesman confirmed to ireland.comthis morning that the president of the GRA, Dermot O'Donnell, will call for the withdrawal of the arrangements under which the killers are held.

Kevin Walsh, Pearse McAuley, Jeremiah Sheehy and Michael O'Neill were sentenced in 1999 for between 11 and 14 years for manslaughter and are serving their sentences in the open prison at Castlerea in Co Roscommon.

The men are accommodated in houses rather than cells, and the GRA wants an end to this practice and for the men to serve the rest of their sentences in prison.

However, the Minister for Jusctice, Michael McDowell, during his address to the association this eveing rejected the call.

Mr McDowell said: " The killers of Jerry McCabe will serve their sentences. The area in which they have been detained since 1999 is an open area of Castlerea Prison but under no circumstances could it be described as living in luxury.

"These prisoners, and others including other criminals serving sentences for rape and murder, are under no illusion but that they are in prison and, as I have said, there they will remain for the duration of their sentences."

"They have been informed that I will not hesitate to return them to Portlaoise if that is warranted by any behaviour on their part," he added.

Meanwhile, delegates at the GRA annual conference in Tralee are also expected to hear today that bullying within the force is one of the greatest causes of stress among rank-and-file gardaí.

The president is expected to call for support structures to be put in place for members who find themselves victims of bullying and for an amendment to the Garda Síochána Bill that would enable gardaí to register complaints against other gardaí, something that is not allowed for in the Bill as proposed.

Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy and Mr McDowell addressed the conference today.

Mr Conroy said the lack of a national DNA database is hampering the investigations of serious crimes.

He said Ireland was one of the few European countries without such a database.

"It leaves An Garda Siochana at a distinct disadvantage in crime investigation," he said.

One motion before the conference claims the penalty points system has made gardaí very unpopular, and there will be a debate on how the "negative impact" can be minimised.

Delegates will also hear of plans by gardaí in Finglas and Castleisland, Co Kerry, to walk out of their stations in a protest on July 1st over conditions at their stations.

The association will also call for the provision of mobile phones to all Garda cars, and for the force's telecommunications system to be modernised.

They also want gardaí to stop using their own computers and cameras at work, so these items would be supplied by the State.

Other motions at the conference include a demand for a second Garda medical officer to deal with backlog of members who have been injured on duty and are waiting for up to two years.

Delegates will debate 42 motions in total at the two-day conference.