FOUR SERVING GARDAÍ who were cleared in court yesterday of perverting the course of justice have been told they can return to work, The Journal has learned.

A jury at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court cleared the officers and a retired superintendent of any wrongdoing after an eight-week trial. 

The case centred around the terminating of road traffic tickets after requests by members of the public to gardaí to not issue fines.

It was successfully argued in court that officers must be allowed the opportunity to exercise discretion and decide against prosecuting for minor offences.

Questions are now being raised over the logic of pursuing the case, with estimates that it could have cost an estimated €3 million.

Investigation 

The trial followed an investigation by the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI) into the practice of stopping tickets for speeding, mobile phones and other offences from being issued.

The accused gardaí were all based in the midwest, particularly in the Limerick garda division.

Those who faced trial were: retired Garda superintendent Eamon O’Neill, who served across the division but was the lead officer in Newcastlewest; Limerick based Sergeant Michelle Leahy; sergeant Anne-Marie Hassett, who formerly served in Limerick city; garda Tom McGlinchey, Murroe Garda Station; and garda Colm Geary, Clare Garda Division. All pleaded not guilty.

Multiple sources have confirmed today that the four serving gardaí received phone calls this morning to tell them that their suspension was being lifted. Their suspensions had lasted for more than six years as the investigation progressed.  

Two other gardaí, members of the Limerick Road Policing Unit, have had their suspensions extended. They were not charged with offences due to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) directing that there was no evidence to support a prosecution.

Dáil criticism

Labour TD Alan Kelly questioned the approach to the case today, raised the issue first with Taoiseach Micheál Martin in the Dáil and later with Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan at the Oireachtas Justice Committee. 

“We need a serious discussion in here about Garda leadership, the NBCI and the DPP, after what happened in Limerick yesterday,” Kelly, a former minister in the Fine Gael-Labour coalition, insisted. 

“This took seven years. How much bloody well did this cost? How much did this cost the taxpayer? And they’re not finished yet. This is not acceptable.

Kelly called for a debate on the matter – noting the Garda representative body, the GRA, had called it a “witch hunt”. 

Speaking in the justice committee, O’Callaghan refused to be drawn on the specifics of the case. 

“The administration of justice operates when people are acquitted as when they are convicted,” the minister said. 

“Innocent people have been brought through the courts but you don’t have a system whereby the State goes back and investigates the background to the prosecution,” he added. 

An Garda Síochána has not responded to a request for a statement.