THE HIGH COURT has granted a stay on a notice of dismissal against a garda, whose discharge from the force was seen as “necessary to maintain public confidence” after he was convicted of assaulting his then spouse in 2012.

The dismissal was due to come into force at one minute before midnight tonight.

Former detective garda Trevor Bolger is taking his case against the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána and seeks an order quashing the notice of dismissal issued earlier this month under Section 41 of the ‘Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024′.

In April 2025, Mr Bolger, with an address listed at his solicitors’ office at Arran Quay, Dublin 7, pleaded guilty before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to a Section 2 assault on his former spouse, who was also a garda at the time.

Last January, he was sentenced to a three-month sentence, which was fully suspended, subject to conditions.

Following the conviction, it is submitted by his lawyers, Mr Bolger’s former spouse engaged in a “media campaign demanding the applicant’s dismissal from An Garda Síochána”.

Last February, the Commissioner’s office then wrote to the applicant informing him that his dismissal “is necessary to maintain public confidence”.

It is submitted by Mr Bolger’s side that “agents” on behalf of Bolger then wrote back to the Commissioner saying they were aware of other cases in which members were allegedly convicted of assault, assault causing harm and other serious offences, who – while sanctioned – were not the subject of dismissal.

The letter sought details of any such person for the purpose of making comparator submissions to the Commissioner, but the request was refused.

Mr Bolger, who is now a regular garda under suspension, took a judicial review challenging the notice to dismiss him through his barrister Mark Harty SC, appearing with James Kane BL, instructed by Seán Costello Solicitors.

On Tuesday, his legal team successfully argued for a stay on Mr Bolger’s dismissal, which was scheduled to be enacted one minute before midnight tonight.

Mr Harty submitted in an ex parte High Court application – where only one side is represented – that his client sought a prohibition restraining the Commissioner from continuing the process of dismissing the applicant, which was issued on 6 May 2026.

It is submitted that in the “immediate aftermath” of the incident the applicant sought “urgent psychological and psychiatric care” and consented to a barring order.

It is further submitted the incident was known to An Garda Síochána from November 2012 and that Mr Bolger accepted he would have to move station and be returned to uniform duties.

Mr Harty submitted that the Commissioner acted “not properly” in dismissing Mr Bolger and that the process enacting the dismissal was “unlawful and unsustainable”.

Counsel submitted: “The circumstances have not shown to be sufficiently unusual, extreme, or exceptional” to warrant the dismissal under the relevant section of the Act.

He submitted the “apprehended lack of public confidence is not rationally grounded in evidence” and there is “an absence of a pressing public concern arising from the critical need for the maintenance of public confidence in the force”.

It was further submitted that requested comparator cases had not been supplied to Mr Bolger and there was no evidence that established disciplinary procedures could not continue in place of any dismissal notice.

Counsel submitted that his client had no right of appeal from the decision to have him dismissed and was forced to seek judicial review.

Ms Justice Sara Phelan granted leave to challenge the dismissal decision and put a stay on dismissal proceedings until 14 July.