Corruption is ‘rife’ among gardaí, claims young officer

5 Responses to “Corruption is ‘rife’ among gardaí, claims young officer”

1. Susanomahoney on November 24th, 2009 1:21 AM
   

   Can you read my blog concerning the death of my sister and the failure and mistreatment that we received from Clonmel gardai.
   Google – INJUSTICE IN CLONMEL
2. aidan mccullough on December 1st, 2009 3:55 PM
   

   I live in rural ireland where goings-on are more obvious to all.The Gardai are similar to the Catholic church,rotten to the core.There are some good ones in each organization,but they turn a blind eye as a matter of course.I don’t have answers.
3. Kevin on February 21st, 2010 12:58 PM
   

   My family recently were subjected to an awful ordeal in Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon where a young garda was prepared to stand up in court and Lie under oath about an alleged incident. But for the fact that this family are strong willed and believed in themselves, and that they had absolutely no case to answer , they would have been bound to the peace for something they were not guilty of doing. The allegation was that the family caused affray or breach of the peace at a local hotel. The hotel owner was prepared to stand and be a witness in favour of the family to say that no such thing took place. But he was not approached by the guards even though they claimed that he was asked. The reality of the matter was that it was a young arrogant pup of a garda who was called to assist the familys blind and aged mother at 4 pm in the morning when she was being subjected to a horrific ordeal at the hands of a drunken son in law.He had broken up the house where the mother was living at the time and had attempted to hang himself afterwards. Proof in the form of pictures of this were taken by the family and handed to their solicitor.afterwards. A siege situation took place at the family home with eight or ten members of the force being called in the early hours and the poor woman was taken to a local hotel for her safety. It was there that this young upstart of a garda tried everything in his power to initiate trouble between the family and he maintained a threatening demenour throughout the ordeal for the family. But they ignored him with one exception and that was the wife of the drunken culprit who was the cause of the old womans trauma. She was also drunk and did try to cause trouble with the ambulance people who were called. But her daughter was well known to the young guarda and he immediately took sides and turned on the law abiding faction of the family who had never uttered a bad word throughout. The ambulance staff were even prepared to come to court and give evidence to support our family -and would be saying that only one person-the drunken wife- did try to stop the elderly woman being put into the ambulance but that no one else interfered. They were never approached to give evidence by the state. Curious?

   The guards, including the superintendent from Castlerea, claimed that the family’s witnesses had refused to come to court to give evidence that would clear their good name. but this again was complete lies. It was only when a member of the family ran down to the local doctor -{who was prepared to be a witness- and came back up the streets of Ballaghaderreen with him to prove he was never asked to appear in court by the gardai} that suddenly the whole case took on a different route and there were huddled whisperings going on under a tree at the rear of the courthouse between the Superintendant, the Gardai involved, the prosecutor and our solicitor . And lo and behold we were told that the state had withdrawn the allegations and the case dismissed. So , we as a family had to lick our wounds and thank our lucky stars that corruption had failed once again to bring down a law abiding family of the highest integrity who were falsely accused by a young corrupt garda who had the full backing of his superiors to say anything at all under oath that would enable the gardai to save face no matter what the consequences. Yes–corruption is RIFE in Ireland !!
4. Kevin on February 21st, 2010 1:34 PM
   

   I should clarify a couple of things regarding my last posting.

   Hindsight is 20/20 as they say. so just a couple of pointers.

   I should have stated that the “pup” as i referred to him was the one who tried his best to intimidate and initiate trouble on that morning in the hotel but was unsuccessful. He raced back with the young daughter of the “drunken wife” in his car to the scene of the crime, entered the house- unaccompanied by a female garda -and spent some time clearing up the place with her. But we already had the photographs of proof that a terrible incident had taken place with blood all over the floors , broken doors, carnage in fact.
   The Pup was then stood down by his superiors for the day and the other young garda who took over from him was the one who would prosacute the case later.
   In fact at the time the family were relieved that the other “trouble maker” had gone and were hoping for a better response from this bright young spark. But , as it turned out everything that glistens is not always gold and he had been well tutored as to how to handle the situation. Bring them all down !!!!!!
   He doctored statements made by members of the family and wrote “Cautioned” on them afterwards to make it look like he had cautioned them even though they went in voluntarily to the station a week later as a gesture of goodwill and to clear up any misunderstandings and none of them were cautioned at all. Why would they be ? They had not broken any laws. People of Ballaghaderreen—take care now ya hear …………….
5. Rodger on March 3rd, 2010 1:14 PM
   

   A Dublin-based garda has complained about “internal corruption” within the force and the Garda Representative Association (GRA) has backed up the officer’s assertion that gardaí can be promoted through nepotism rather than ability.
   Similar to political dynasties, there is a history within An Garda Síochána of members of the same families joining the force. Because of this, it has been claimed young officers with family connections can gain promotions and transfers unfairly.
   A young garda said there is “low morale” within the force because of officers using family connections to gain promotions and transfers.
   “Those with connections have gained detective spots before those with more experience and expertise. Those with connections have gained indoor or office jobs. Those with connections have ridden roughshod over disciplinary regulations due to their ‘pull’,” he said.
   Michael O’Boyce, president of the GRA, said young officers using their family connections to get ahead was an “ongoing issue”.
   “It’s something we have to always be aware of and keep an eye on it. It is covered under the Garda code of ethics. I’m aware of one case where a young garda got promoted to a position because of another garda.
   “The young garda wasn’t making an issue of who his relation was. This other officer saw to it that he got promoted to try and ingratiate himself with this young garda’s relation, who was senior to him.
   “The young garda in question was just used in this case,” he said.
   “There’s always been suspicion over the years about people getting promoted because of their family connections. What we’re more concerned about is that there’s always been a strong suggestion that people can get transferred because of friendships more so than family connections.
   “I would have a view that would be more prevalent than nepotism,” O’Boyce added.
   The rules state that when gardaí are sworn into the force, they cannot transfer from the first station where they are assigned for two years save for exceptional circumstances. In practice, this rule has been flaunted by young officers with “connections”, said the garda source.
   “When training at the garda college, we’re told that all transfers depend on work return – the amount of summons, tickets, arrests, pieces of criminal intelligence and charge sheets accrued over time and your sick record.
   “In practice, this is a nonsense to the extent that when a garda hears of a colleague submitting a transfer request, their first question is not as regards the desired division but ‘do you have any pull?’”
   O’Boyce said he was not aware of the practice of gardaí being authorised for transfers before their two-year probationary period was complete without just cause.
   The garda source added: “What vexes me more than anything else is the extent to which such corrupt practices lead to a denigration of morale. How can gardaí be expected to remain self-motivated and productive if the level of internal corruption is of such pandemic proportions?

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