Shake-up of Garda informer system

The way in which gardaí handle criminal and subversive informants has been overhauled and for the first time will be the subject of external audit, The Irish Times has learned.

The root-and-branch modernisation of the informant system comes as a direct response to scathing criticism by the Morris tribunal of the force's handling of informers.

It represents one of the most significant changes to Irish policing in modern times.

In his July 2004 interim report Mr Justice Frederick Morris warned that if An Garda Síochána did not radically change the way it used informers, then misconduct, "possibly worse" than that seen in the Donegal division, "will be facilitated".

After the report's publication, Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy established nine working groups to study various aspects of the tribunal's findings. The "informant management" group has concluded its work and a new informants code of practice for members has been drawn up.

It has been formally in place since April 3rd but has not attracted any publicity before now. Under the new system a dedicated National Source Management Unit has been established in the force's crime and security section, under Assistant Commissioner Nacie Rice.

About 100 informant handlers have undergone intensive training over the last six months in the handling of individual gardaí who have cultivated informants.

The courses have been run in the Garda Training College, Templemore, and at a facility in nearby Nenagh. The curriculum has incorporated elements of best practice in other jurisdictions, mainly the UK and US.

Under the new code all informants must be registered with the source management unit from the outset. The detective making the registration will be obliged to meet his superior officers and an informant handler from his or her division. This group will carry out a risk assessment of the new informant.

This will focus on the role of the source in the criminal underworld or in a paramilitary organisation. The risks posed to the source from those he is informing on will also be assessed and will govern the frequency and nature of the Garda's contact with that individual.

Assistant Commissioner Rice will have the power to approve or veto suggested individuals being formally registered as informants, or "covert human intelligence sources".

The details of all subsequent meetings with an informant will be recorded and lodged with the source management unit. This will be maintained on a secure database in the crime and security section at Garda headquarters, Phoenix Park, Dublin. Access to the database will be highly restricted. However, the handling of all sources will be reviewed annually internally.

The new Garda Ombudsman Commission and Garda Inspectorate will also be given access to the records when this is deemed appropriate.

Senior management within the force are also considering the recruitment of an auditor in another jurisdiction who would annually review the workings of the system. Up until now the system of informants had been largely self-regulating.

In the Donegal division a small number of gardaí fabricated intelligence from non-existent sources which resulted in staged finds of explosives. The members involved believed such activities would enhance their reputations.

Members of the McBrearty family were also wrongly implicated in the killing of Richie Barron by untrue information supplied by bogus informants.

Mr Justice Morris noted that the system of checks and balances was so poor that there were no records in existence to substantiate claims by the members that individuals they said were supplying them with information were actually doing so.