AN TAOISEACH HAS said the six-year wait for a conclusion to the Limerick garda case added to the trauma of families but that there should not be a public inquiry. 

Speaking in Limerick this morning, Micheál Martin spoke of his belief that he would prefer that there should be an internal garda review of the case.

He also said that politicians cannot interfere in the work of the Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly or attack the Director of Public Prosecutions for going ahead with the prosecutions.  

A total of 11 gardaí were suspended during the seven-year investigation by the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI) into accusations that officers, including a now retired superintendent, handled the cancelling of road offence tickets in Limerick.

A total of 130 gardaí were questioned and their phones seized. 

Two of those gardaí were never charged but continued to be suspended.

Eight serving gardaí and one retired Superintendent were charged with offences of perverting the course of justice because they either made representations on behalf of members of the public to not proceed with traffic offence tickets or they were the gardaí who had stopped the driver and decided not to go ahead with the cases.

The trial of the four serving and one retired superintendent centred around whether gardaí had a power of discretion in the issuing of those tickets. They were acquitted by a jury after an eight-week hearing. 

This week the Director of Public Prosecutions directed that the case against a further three accused, two serving gardaí and one retired member should be withdrawn.

Previously, after the end of the trial, the Taoiseach had said in the Dáil that he believed a review was necessary. 

Length of time

This morning, he claimed he did not know the full details of the cases, but then clarified that he did not mean a public inquiry, rather an internal garda review or examination of how the garda organisation handled the cases. 

“Decisions were taken by An Garda Síochána in relation to this. The DPP followed up on that, but the courts took its decisions. The length of time that all of this takes puts enormous pressure on families and people.

“That’s a real problem, and the criminal justice system and the length of time it takes can exacerbate the trauma on people,” he said.

Last night a meeting of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) central executive committee unanimously agreed to a motion to campaign for a public inquiry. 

The Taoiseach said he understands the “concerns and anger of many people” but added that the courts acquitted the accused. 

“The courts dealt with the situation we have to be careful about having public inquiries on so many issues. The existing institutions of the state should deal with issues like this.

“Public inquiries take an inordinate length of time, cost an enormous amount of money and often do not give solace to those who sought them in the first instance,” he added. 

Solicitors for the gardaí Dan O’Gorman and Elizabeth Hughes have both called for a public inquiry. Alan Kelly of Labour and Fianna Fáil TD Cathal Crowe have also called for a tribunal in the Dáil.

The Tánaiste Simon Harris has also told the Dáil that he would support an inquiry into the failed prosecutions of gardaí in Limerick.

Frank Thornton, the senior Limerick GRA representative who is leading calls for the establishment of the inquiry said it is needed to get to the root cause of what happened in Limerick, the behaviour of the NBCI and the DPP.

He said the GRA and the gardaí want to see the recommendations for prosecution the NBCI sent the DPP when submitting the files. 

“The overriding feeling here is the unjust nature of it and how a small minority of members were isolated, and the witch hunt kept continuing.

This is so unjust, so unfair, so unwarranted yet they allowed this calamity to occur. They allowed the exile of these gardaí for six years.

“There were two gardaí allowed to be suspended for six years, no charges, no discipline and yet they just expect for them to go back to work with no explanation as to why,” he said. 

Emergency services’ pensions

Meanwhile, in Limerick this evening, a meeting is to take place with all uniform services such as the gardaí, prison officers, military, fire service and ambulance personnel as part of a campaign to fix broken pension entitlements.  

The meeting will see the various groups coming together as part of the “Secure our Future” campaign which has already hosted a meeting in Dublin. 

A letter being sent to all politicians by the various groups said that the change in 2013 to pension entitlements now means that they will be down €13,800. 

The missive sent to the TDs and Senators said that when emergency services personnel leave their agencies that they will not be able to retire due to the financial burden.