Garda appointed to lead inquiry into colleague despite warning, - RTE News
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A senior garda was appointed to lead an internal inquiry into a high-ranking colleague, despite Garda Commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan being warned a year earlier over alleged links between the two senior officers, RTÉ's This Week has learned.
The accused garda is the subject of two serious complaints, made separately by two young garda whistleblowers.
It is understood one of the garda whistleblowers withdrew from the complaints process, which he initiated after it emerged that information from his meeting with the investigating garda seemed to make its way back to the accused.
His lawyers wrote to the Garda Commissioner and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald at the time, in mid-2014, expressing their concern over the development.
However, RTE's This Week has established the senior garda who was in charge of that investigation has now been appointed to lead an internal disciplinary inquiry into the high-ranking garda who was the accused in that first case. The internal inquiry arises from serious allegations made by the second whistleblower.
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The two uniformed gardaí claim the investigating Garda and the accused garda were well-known to each other.
RTÉ's This Week has separately established that the investigating garda and the accused garda worked at the same time on reports for an official Garda publication, a copy of which can still be found on the garda website bearing both of their names on the front cover.
Both whistleblowers claim their careers have effectively been destroyed as a result of bringing their concerns to certain senior staff.
Both men decided to go to the interim confidential recipient in 2014, following the efforts of Garda whistleblower Sergeant Maurice McCabe and former Garda John Wilson to publicise concerns relating to governance in the force.
The two young gardaí said they were bullied and harassed after one of them arrested a garda for drink driving, and after the other uniformed garda raised concerns about drugs crime investigations.
Disgraceful stuff. So much for protecting whistleblowers.
Statistics: Posted by Coles2 — Sun Aug 30, 2015 4:05 pm