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THE GARDA OMBUDSMAN has said there appears to be sufficient evidence that details of TD Clare Daly’s arrest in 2013 were leaked to the media by gardaí.
Daly was pulled over by gardaí for a wrong turn and arrested after a breathalyser failed to register a reading on 28 January 2013. The media soon after learned of her arrest.
The TD was later cleared of drink driving and lodged a complaint with the Garda Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) and the Data Protection Commissioner about the leak.
Today the ombudsman’s office published its report on the matter, noting that the “considerable media coverage” at the time was a “cause of disquiet” to Daly.
It concluded that there was insufficient evidence of a criminal offence by any individual member of the force to warrant sending a file to the Director of Public Prosecution.
However, in a statement, GSOC said:
…there does appear to be sufficient evidence to state, on the balance of probabilities, that some of the detail relating to Deputy Daly’s arrest emanated from within the Garda Síochána organisation and were made available to members of the media in an unauthorised manner.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Drivetime earlier today, Daly said this is the outcome she had sought, but she would still like an apology from An Garda Síochána. She also commented on how long it took for the GSOC investigation to reach its conclusion:
This case has been going on for nearly three and a half years, which would give people an indication of how difficult it is for GSOC to process any complaints. In the early years they were met with huge delays in requests for documentation from An Garda Síochána.
The TD initiated civil proceedings against the Garda Commissioner a number of years ago and this process is still ongoing.
“Unfortunately that’s how long our justice system takes to process these things, but obviously the favourable outcome from GSOC in our report will probably assist that case,” she said.
The timeline
GSOC’s report on the incident says the two gardaí who stopped Daly in the early hours of 29 January 2013 claim they did know who she was until a passing colleague told them.
After her release from custody, Daly said she first became aware the media knew of her arrest when she was contacted by RTÉ journalists shortly after 4pm that day. She was told by one of these journalists that they knew she had been arrested for a drink-driving offence and they were going to run a story on it.
They also said the Irish Daily Star newspaper had the story since 11am that morning. The first query to the Garda Press Office was from a journalist with the tabloid newspaper at 4.45pm.
The GSOC investigation found a call to a landline in the Irish Daily Star was made from a garda extension in a one-person office assigned to a civilian administrator. The office was generally unlocked and the employee said they had no knowledge of Daly’s arrest until the news that evening.
A second call from the public office of a garda station to a Daily Star number was also traced. There are no PULSE checks originating from people attached to this station.
Daly also received a number of text messages from an Irish Daily Mail reporter, with one referring to the “hot whiskey episode”.
Looking on PULSE
According to PULSE records, there were 36 separate transactions on the incident from 24 different people between around 2am and the first call to the Garda Press Office.
Daly’s personal ID within the system was also accessed seven times during the time frame, by seven different members. Four were from Kilmainham garda station, one was from Pearse Street and two others were from Coolock and Newbridge stations.
“Some of these access records appeared particularly unusual and were looked into thoroughly,” GSOC’s report states. When asked, the Newbridge garda said they had a particular interest in traffic-related incidents and denied telling anyone about it.
Some 145 people potentially had knowledge of the politician’s arrest, according to GSOC, either by checking PULSE or by receiving an email from the sergeant in Kilmainham.
Checks were conducted on the PULSE system from shortly after the creation of the record on PULSE, by garda members across Ireland. It is difficult to see how the majority of the checks could be considered to be the result of legitimate enquiries into the investigation or detection of crime.
‘Why did you ring Mick Wallace?’
The report today refers to a number of media articles attributing details to “garda sources”, noting that the time of arrest in these articles is the same as the time logged on PULSE.
Part of Daly’s complaint included an allegation that gardaí told the media she had requested TD Mick Wallace be informed of her arrest while she was in custody.
A text message from a reporter in the Daily Mail to Daly stated:
Understand you rang Mick Wallace TD on your allowed phone call by gardaí. Why was that?
Her legal representative claimed such a leak was designed to embarrass the TD.
Wallace also received texts from this journalist, with the first asking:
Sympathy for Clare?
A second text said:
Understand Clare Daly rang you Mick on her allowed phone call by gardaí. Was that you? Did you collect her?
Contacts with journalists in these cases resulted in refusals to identify their sources. However GSOC said enquiries revealed the journalist who sent the text messages had been in contact with a telephone number registered to a detective garda.
As part of the investigation, a Twitter account linked to the detective was found to have sent tweets to Clare Daly alluding to the incident.
“How big was the hot whiskey?” one asked. “Boiling a bottle of Jameson & swallowing it doesn’t count as 1″.
The garda said he could not recall sending these tweets to the TD and denied leaking any information.
‘She had a right to privacy’
GSOC concluded it is “more likely than not” that at least some of the details of the arrest were provided by someone from within An Garda Síochána. However the ombudsman is unable to conclude whether the information was passed directly or indirectly to a journalist.
The Ombudsman commission said it is of the view that Deputy Daly “was entitled to the presumption of innocence and that she had a right to privacy. These rights appear to have been infringed by the release of such information.”
Responding to the findings of the investigation, a garda spokesperson said they were “a matter of concern”.
“Members of An Garda Síochána hold a privileged position in relation to the sensitive information they have access to and this information should only be used for appropriate purposes in accordance with legislation and Garda policy and procedures.
The Commissioner will examine the findings of the GSOC report.”
It’s just like when they were unable to find the leak in their own organisation. Although instead of 13000 or so suspects they had 12.
Go GSOC
The dogs on the street knew it was leaked by a garda and yet when they ask for people to come forward ” in the strictest of confidence” about gangland warfare, drugs or any crime they experience to people to trust them! If some bent cop got a few euros off a journo for a story then how much would they get for a grass in a drugs bust or the latest kinahan -hutch fued?
Expect people
@Willie….And remember the €7,000 that wend missing from a” LOCKED” cell or room in a Garda Station that went missing?Whatever happened about that?Feck all….
Says it all. No one will be punished..
GSOC said enquiries revealed the journalist who sent the text messages had been in contact with a telephone number registered to a detective garda.
As part of the investigation, a Twitter account linked to the detective was found to have sent tweets to Clare Daly alluding to the incident.
“How big was the hot whiskey?” one asked. “Boiling a bottle of Jameson & swallowing it doesn’t count as 1″.
The garda said he could not recall sending these tweets to the TD and denied leaking any information. Well used words these days cant recall and denial..
If they have a telephone number registered to a detective Garda that was in contact with a journalist and also a Twitter account from the same Garda that sent the tweets.. why can’t anything be done about that?..
Because there “could” have been someone else who used the phone to send the tweets and make the calls etc. Nonsense of course!!
If it were Joan Bruton she would have sued an opposition TD for false imprisonment
Wonder will everyone be able to use that excuse now.. it wasn’t me , it was my phone but it could have been anyone. Next time someone sends harassing phonecalls to someone .
The leak does seem to be politically motivated somewhat
Shakka absolutely it’s dangerous what our goverment is coming to. Would make eoin o Duffy proud
There is now serious questions about political policing in this country.
There has always been political policing in this country. Remember the Heavy Gang, and also the Gardai harrassment of the Concerned Parents Against Drugs where they have evidence along with drug dealers in court. More recently the antics of Gardai against Shell to Sea activists and the ridiculous over policing and waste of resources at some water meter protests. There are plenty of fine Gardai but there is a significant minority who leave a lot to be desired.
Ron. Everyone or almost everyone who are high up in Government and Police seem to be corrupt.
One rule for one
Journalists should have to provide their sources when information which has been obtained is given illegally be the source. My point is people in positions with confidential private information selling this to a journalist should be named to at least a judge.
How do you prove it was received illegally? Unfortunately you can’t, except in the most extreme cases. For example, who is to say that the journalist didn’t receive a tip off from someone who drove passed the incident?
John how would someone who drove past, know she was arrested for alledged drink driving?
John read the article calls were made from the station….
When a high ranking member of An Garda appears on Crimecall, Six One News and can’t string a sentence togeather it makes one wonder wtf is going on.
The Gardaí and indeed the justice department are not fit for purpose anymore, the amount of collusion with FG in particular should worry every citizen in the country, They have gone after Wallace,Daly and Murphy for daring to bring things into the public domain. then we have the scurrilous treatment of the whistle blowers and the lise in trying to discredit them.
They have politically policed the water debacle almost since it`s inception with arrests on some very shaky laws , there are 2 elderly men STILL in prison for demonstrating against IW, yet the person who assaulted them was allowed to get off scott free, even though the videos show him striking people including a woman, and a Garda can be seen trying to pull him off a person, and can be heard calling his name and asking him to let go, he didn`t even get a caution, then we have the scenes outside the Dáil on a regular basis of them pushing, kettling and hitting people who are exercising their constitutional right to protest.
Root and branch clear out is required at this stage,
no one ever held accountable in the Gardaí for anything it seems and they have turned into a poisonous force and will take years to rebuild trust with the general communities of Ireland.
And the Gardai wonder why confidence in them is non existent. Maurice McCabe was very lucky in that he, being a member, understood how dangerous it would be giving an interview without recording it.
The fit-up culture was well known to him and he would have been destroyed by the two senior Gardai who would have perjured themselves but for the recording.
They should make Maurice McCabe Commissioner at least he is an honest Man, but some how i doubt if the Government of this Country or some of the Gardai would allow it.
I fully agree with the Guards marching i think they should have a very high pay with the Nurses and Teachers.
Troubling eh???
Good to clear that up.
I don’t think I have much confidence in An Garda Siochana anymore to be honest.. sad state of affairs
Since Enda Kenny became Teaoseach we have become a despot Country.
You may not have heard of Charles Haughey, Ray Burke, Michael Lowry
No bother Noirin will investigate and get to the bottom of it straight away. Claire can relax now fully assured that the PC and fanny are on the case. God save Ireland.
The PC and Franny….all fluffy and pink..
AGS breaking more laws and getting away with it bangs of more Cavan&Monaghan.
Translation:
GSOC says “A little bit of Garda corruption here and there is ok”.
Does the pulse system talk to the revenue systems computer? The Gardai landlords and their families would make for interesting tax returns.
Clare is well able to whisper in the ears of journalists about the Gardai and also in the Dail. When it comes to evidence, she gets very quiet
You mean the evidence that calls were made from a Garda station to journalists ESF?
Ags are a joke, a very bad joke
Slowly,slowly catchee monkey Clare.Keep after them.You were wronged.
And they want a pay rise. !! This is shocking stuff, on the one hand they’re complaining they are too busy to police the streets and on the other spend all day gossiping about clare Daly, what a sad bunch they really are.
Aoife I hope you never need their services since you don’t think too highly of them then.
Well if I ever do by the looks of the recent revelations and now this is doubt if they’d be of any real use at all. Well you know what they say about paying people peanuts and getting monkeys.
I totally agree with you Aoife seriously no one would be happy in any job if they weren’t being paid properly for it. And as you said about peanuts and monkeys but there are others in this country getting highly paid for doing a job for this country and they really don’t get anything done at all and I am afraid Claire Daly and Mick Wallace fall into that bracket .
So Claire and Mick who helped shed light on this are at fault kia? Well done for that statement….
The worrying thing is that the more you look into this the more you realise that it’s a lack of training in relation to the guards themselves. It’s apparent in all this stuff coming out via the media. There has to be proper accountability and sanctions applied along with real training for the guards.
Never said it was their fault that it was leaked no no no sur Claire Daly drinking and driving and getting caught by the Gardai before,possibly, injuring or even killing someone while intoxicated was not at fault at all and being able to stand up and have ago at the Gardai sur the Gardai are not people their not someone’s sons, daughters husbands wives brothers or sisters, no no no they’re just able to take all the crap from those 2 politicians and not feel a thing…God my heart bleeds for Daly and Wallace who let’s remember got away in a sense of defrauding the country of over 2 million euros in tax….wow I can see all the halos now! Such law abiding individuals who now represent the country!
Knowing.. that’s a bit rich going on about Wallace and tax considering fg have Regina Doherty as chief whip…
Which is a pity because apparently our Gardai are supposed to be the best trained police force in Europe. Then there is the other side that like the Joe soap public, Gardai and all police officers are only human too.
Hi Littleone, I can’t say I know much about RD to be honest but to me anyone who can blatantly defraud their country of tax they owe should not be allowed to be represented on the Dail in any shape or form. If you can do that with no political clout consider what be done with political clout?????
What are you on about?.. are you saying they should be allowed leak confidential information to journalists ? Access the pulse system whenever? Because after all they are only human.
Well knowing . Fair enough if you don’t know about RD. Common knowledge but yet she is now chief whip of the government. Here’s a link..
Knowing it all. Are you OK? Your just ranting here.
Didn’t you know that it’s come out that Mrs Doherty has an outstanding tax bill of over fifty thousand euro.
KIA if you read the article CAREFULLY you will discover that Claire was not charged with D & D and you have just slandered someone on a public forum and might find yourself in front of the courts for slander.
KIA knows lots about everyone…except FG TD’s who get his support….best not to read bad stuff about the FG TD’s you support or you could undermine your illusion about how great they are.
No I actually didn’t until now but let’s be a little fair here Mick Wallace had,aparently according to reports out in the public domain…..gotta cover myself against slander according to others on here …. an outstanding bill to the tune of over 2 million euro, but fraud is fraud
Slander? That’s a laugh! Have you read some of the comments about Enda Kenny on here?
Starting to resemble Gotham PD pre Jim Gordon
Worrying scenario by our own Gardai; great that we can now investigate these claims and deal with the reality.
The Gardai seem to think they write their own laws. And in some ways they do as their Commissioner seems complicit in their abuse of the law. This and the McCabe case are prime examples of closing ranks around the wrongdoers. The Commissioner is holed below the waterline and will go under sooner or later. Will Fitzgerald cut her lose. Perhaps that’s why she was less than fully confident in the Commissioner.
The Commissioner must go, she is losing credibility more each day.
As usual no accountability….
And this Big brother carry on is facilitated and supported by the “security correspondents” and “crime correspondents” of RTE, the Irish Times, the Indo and all the other pathetic Corporate media shills.
So GSOC has stated ‘there appears to be sufficient evidence’ that the details of the arrest were leaked to the media by Gardai and then further state there was ‘insufficient evidence of a criminal offence’ – they don’t seem very sure. They’ve submitted files to the DPP on far less serious issues. Why didn’t they submit a file and let the DPP decide – they have always been quite eager to let cases run and let a Judge/Jury decide. In this case they even went so far as to examine members phones and clearly didn’t find anything. They also tracked emails. To this day I firmly believe that Clare Daly or someone in her camp leaked the information. Her hatred for AGS is well known.
Carlovian…they certainly wanted to hang it on a copper….
State Corruption at its most vilest; rotten to the core. Just look how well Frances Fitzgerald, Máire Whelan and Noreen O’Sullivan have done? They are all useless and incompetent and not educated or suitable to be in their positions of ‘power’ (corruption)
It really must be the most corrupt police force in Europe.
Ha ha you really have had no experience of the Polish or Turkish or the Russian police then!
I’m attracted to Clare & have no logical explanation for it.
I hope she sues
Leak was due to a systems failure
Nothing to see here more along now
Any time Fine Gael are in power the Gardai feel free to run amok and do so with impunity. This has happened many times in the past with little corrective consequences.
We will need a very strong, independent ,police authority to curb these excesses developing further…
I’m not a fan of her policies by any means but I do recognize her right to her views. She deserves a formal apology from the powers that be. Gsoc know who leaked the info.
http://youtu.be/jsY37-cjXrw
True story!
For gods sake when will all this end there’s some rotten apples in the force, you couldn’t make this stuff up! It’s not fair on all the good members of the force, the morale must be on the floor. The grief good Gardai have to go through every day I certainly couldn’t do. Oh it’s all going to be grand because Ireland’s answer to Queen Lizzie Frances Fitzgerald will upgrade the enquiry, who writes her speeches for her? She’s knows she’s telling fibs it’s written all over her face during leaders questions. And Noirin needs to go big time. A few more mishaps along the way surely…..
Banana Republic !
Such a happy young woman !
Wow isn’t it amazing that she would be up in arms about something like that being leaked to the newspapers when and let’s face herself and Mick Wallace are quick enough to shout out what they want and anyway I can’t see what the big deal is about it coz after her court date it would be in the papers anyway. …or is someone in the courts leaking info too ?????
Here is a clue why there is problem kia from the headline of this article “GSOC says details of Clare Daly’s arrest were leaked by gardaí – but no one will be punished”
There was no court date – she was not over the limit. This touches on several important issues – Garda confidentiality, political policing and the seeming inability of GSOC to effectively do its job. The fact that no one will be held to account for this is shocking, as is the extent of individual Gardai from all over the country accessing the PULSE system at the time, presumably because of Clare’s involvement with McCabe and other whistleblowers. It’s completely unacceptable for journalists to have access to information on the PULSE system, which clearly was being fed to them by someone. This is not about Clare’s arrest, it is about an essential part of our democratic society. We should be grateful to people like her for raising this stuff publicly.
In answer to the headline – WHY ?
Except McCabe???
@Knowingitall: Clare Daky had a blood test that showed was very much under the limit.
Re: Wallace. He’s not my cup of tea but he did negotiate with revenue and taxes have been paid.
Don’t let facts get in the way of your bias, eh!
Those Garda responsible , are no better then the
Wrong clare, your story should be in the public domain. It’s the manner in which you are being treated is wrong.
Clare Daly should be compensated for the breach of her privacy. She should then be fined twice the compensation to cover all the costs involved for the state in her own publicity seeking stunt while breaking the law Shannon.
Claire ” We don’t want to pay for anything Daly”
Oh you mean she has produced proof that gardai protected a certain drug dealer and were involved in murders? Dibt recall that myself
Something stinks here.
That gaurd spoke like a stalker hope he is out of the force.
I fully believe in the Guards in this Country so it’s up to the honest and law abiding guards to get the others out.
We need some one like Maurice McCabe as Commissioner who will work with honesty and transparency as far as i’m concerned Mr McCabe should be promoted and for the good of our Country.
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