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GARDA KEITH HARRISON has said that he will continue his legal action against the State despite the Charleton Tribunal finding that his allegations against gardaí were “entirely without any validity”.
Harrison had claimed that harassment of him and his family had been directed by senior garda management, and fought for his case’s inclusion in the terms of reference of the Charleton Tribunal.
He and his partner Marisa Simms claimed that gardaí coerced a statement from her detailing instances of aggression from Harrison to her, and that gardaí subsequently put pressure on Tusla to have a social worker visit their family home.
However, yesterday Judge Charleton published the Disclosures Tribunal second interim report, which concluded that “all of the allegations of Garda Keith Harrison and Marisa Simms examined by the tribunal are entirely without any validity. They have claimed to have been the victims of a malicious procession of events. That is not so.”
This afternoon, Harrison released a statement saying he will continue to pursue gardaí, the Justice Minister and the Attorney General in the courts.
It read: “Garda Harrison is disappointed with the conclusions of the tribunal, these conclusions were anticipated from the outset given the views adopted in the opening statement and come as no surprise to him.
In light of his dealings with and attendance at the tribunal, where one of the issues of concern was the refusal to pursue parties who withheld documents, he did not anticipate the tribunal would support his views regarding the actions of An Garda Síochána.
“Garda Harrison’s proceedings against the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána, the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Attorney General will continue. He is confident that upon his calling of all relevant witnesses and receiving full discovery of all relevant documentation, the High Court will reach different conclusions in respect of many matters contained in the report of the tribunal. In view of the fact that those proceedings are ongoing, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage.”
The public inquiry, which was set up earlier this year, has also heard evidence about the alleged smear campaign against Maurice McCabe, but the report released yesterday only addresses Harrison’s case.
The 97-page report, published shortly before 7pm, concludes that Harrison and Simms “claimed to have been the victims of others”.
With reporting by Daragh Brophy
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Who is paying his legal fees….They will run to several hundred thousand euros…..
@John003: I’ll bet you my last yoyo it will be the taxpayers of Ireland
@@muirinho: open to correction but I think only criminal cases are covered by legal aid, unless in exceptional circumstances.
@John003: not him anyway, judging by the permanently smug look on his face
@Dario Fo: yes…but the State has to pay its only legal team to fight this horse manure of a case. He’s a deluded bully and that’s being kind to him.
@Paul: hope that’s true – but there’s also the cost of the strand of the enquiry he’s already demanded, as well as the State costs of the High Court case.
@Dario Fo: lol but thats not really fair for the people on Aran.
“There are none so blind as those who do not want to see”. I hope he has deep pockets. I suspect that when the dust settles that he will withdraw his hopeless case and suggesting that he will continue with a High Court case is merely a face saving exercise for the time being. Might I genuinely recommend some medical intervention here because I really do believe there is a problem here.
the man is a nut job , should not be in the Gardai , any one talking to him for more than five mins would know this,
Oh the arrogance.Nothing went in his favour in the trial.Nothings gonna change either !
Oh so now we’re meant to believe what Garda management say
@Steve McMahon: I don’t believe that this situation is a credibility issue for any of members of the public servants, including garda management. I followed the contributions given by as many of the witnesses as possible and I believe they behaved admirably and professionally. I felt from looking at Harrison entering and leaving the tribunal and listening to what he had to say that he lacked credibility. I have pity on his partner, her family and most of all his colleagues who have to work with him.
@Michael Dowd: Maurice McCabe didn’t have much credibility in the beginning… and I’m not sure about this case either. Given the events of the last few days how do we know the previous Minister for Justice and her cronies in the Phoenix Park didn’t actually succeed in stitching Harrison up ? At this stage given how high up the corruption goes only an external inquiry would convince me.. How do we know there’s aren’t emails floating around out there proving his innocence too ?
@Jason: Harrison and his partner claim that she was forced to make allegations against him in a statement despite the fact that (1) she acknowledges she went to the station to make a statement of her own free will and (2) text conversations between Harrison and his partner support the claims she made in her statement. Not sure what your magic emails would have to say to get around these facts.
Why are we allowed comment on this if it is a continuing court case.I am just trying to figure out the protocol for the comments section.Dont care about thia case one way or the other.
What a feckin ejit!!
I would have issues in dealing with this “Garda”. He will have to be confined to an office. Imagine someone going to report abusive texts to this guy?
Mad as a March hare !
Will open comments hinder his Trial
If so The Journal.ie should pay COST
This Ahole is a waste of space .
Did anyone else think his partner looked really strange ,or nervous when at the tribunal. Let’s hope he doesn’t hinder real wistleblowers
Talk about putting your hand out to be slapped.
Quit while your ahead mate and don’t make a fool of yourself any further.you are not going to win
have your say