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Explainer: What is the Guerin report and why was it needed?

It’s already brought down a Minister for Justice before it was even published, but what is the Guerin Report about?

Updated 22.44

EVEN BEFORE BEING published, the Guerin Report had already brought down a Minister for Justice.

It was exactly 67 days ago that the Cabinet asked senior lawyer Seán Guerin to investigate serious allegations made by garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe about the goings-on in one area.

With so many  controversies swirling around An Garda Síochána in recent months – the bugging of GSOC, the fixing of penalty points, garda whistleblowers, the resignation of Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan – it can be easy to lump all of them together as evidence of misconduct or malaise within the force.

However the Guerin Report deals with a very specific set of allegations, centred around one man.

It involves a man who murdered a woman in a Limerick hotel room, and whether or not he should have been out on bail for previous offences that he carried out, including attempting to abduct a 5-year-old girl from her home.

The report looks at whether the gardaí acted inappropriately – or, more seriously, carried out a major cover-up. It also looks at what then-Minister for Justice Alan Shatter knew, when he knew it, and what he did about it.

First things first: who is Sean Guerin? 

Seán Guerin is a senior barrister who has a lot of experience in criminal law. He was the prosecuting counsel in the trial of John Dundon for the murder of rugby player Shane Geoghegan in Limerick, among other high profile cases.

Why did the government ask him to write a report? 

Earlier this year, Sergeant Maurice McCabe gave a dossier to Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin containing allegations about how gardaí had dealt with several cases involving abduction, assault and murder.

File Photo Taoiseach Enda Kenny told the Dail this afternoon Mr Shatter had resigned following receipt of the report of Sean Guerin into allegations made by Sergeant Maurice McCabe. Laura Hutton / Photocall Ireland Laura Hutton / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

The dossier was passed to Taoiseach Enda Kenny, who said that the documents contained “extremely serious allegations of garda misconduct”.

Guerin was given several weeks to carry out an independent investigation to see if there were grounds to establish an official statutory inquiry into what happened.

How big is this report? And who has read it? 

The report runs to more than 300 pages. Taoiseach Enda Kenny and former Justice Minister Alan Shatter both received a copy earlier this week ahead of its publication today.

What exactly did Guerin look at? 

Guerin was asked to assess the investigative methods that were used by gardaí in the ten sample cases in question. As part of this, he interviewed Sgt Maurice McCabe several times, as well as members of GSOC (the Garda Ombudsman).

GSOC Offices Mark Stedman / Photocall Ireland Mark Stedman / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

Guerin says it was “beyond the scope” of the report to “make any determination of the complaints Sgt McCabe has made”. However he concluded that the allegations were serious enough to warrant an official inquiry.

What are the cases involved? 

The most important of the cases revolve around Jerry McGrath, who was convicted for the murder of 33-year-old Sylvia Roche Kelly in a Limerick hotel. The murder happened in December 2007, but McGrath had carried out other crimes earlier that year.

In April 2007, McGrath had attacked taxi driver Mary Lynch after getting her to drive him to what he said was his sister’s house in Cavan.

Lynch told RTE’s Prime Time in February that McGrath had grabbed the keys to her car before seriously assaulting her. “He stood back and started kicking me and then started pulling my hair and he bit me very badly on the shoulder,” she said.

I knew that if he got me out of the car I’d either be raped, murdered or both.

Five months later, while on bail, McGrath tried to abduct a 5-year-old girl from her home in Tipperary in the middle of the night. He was caught by the child’s parents who heard a noise and discovered McGrath on the stairs with the child in his arms.

While in court over the attempted abduction, gardaí failed to raise the fact that McGrath was already on bail for the assault on Mary Lynch, and he was once again released on bail.

Just two months later, while he was still out on bail for this second crime, Jerry McGrath murdered Sylvia Roche-Kelly in the Clarion hotel in Limerick.

The family of Roche-Kelly have said they want answers to what happened, and that they fear another cover-up in relation to how gardaí dealt with Jerry McGrath prior to her murder.

What other cases are involved? 

The remaining cases include details of three assaults, one case of falsified garda records, and an incident involving false imprisonment which was not investigated properly, according to Sgt McCabe’s dossier.

When did Maurice McCabe first raise the issue? 

Sgt McCabe is believed to have gone to the authorities in May 2008, when he was stationed in Cavan-Monaghan.

Garda whistleblower at committee hearing Maurice McCabe Niall Carson Niall Carson

When did Alan Shatter find out about the allegations? 

Oliver Connolly, who was sacked as the garda confidential recipient earlier this year, said the Minister was made aware of issues around these crimes two years ago. ”Shatter would have read your report in detail, I know he did,” Connolly told Maurice McCabe in a recorded conversation.

What did Alan Shatter say about the report in his resignation letter? 

In his resignation letter, Alan Shatter said he had only read three chapters of the report but that it had been enough to prompt his resignation.

Alan Shatter resigns Niall Carson / PA Wire Niall Carson / PA Wire / PA Wire

However, he also said:

I would, however, be less than honest if I did not also record my concerns and reservations with regard to his [Guerin's] report and, in particular, certain conclusions reached by him.

He noted that there were difficulties with GSOC handing over some documents to Guerin. He also said that he had expected to be interviewed for the report but never was.

“I would have expected, if it was his intention to reach a conclusion or form an opinion with regard to my approach or the extent of my concern with regard to the issues raised by Sgt McCabe, that he would have done so,” he wrote.

What happens next? 

Seán Guerin recommends that the allegations should now be the subject of a statutory inquiry. The Cabinet is likely to act soon to set up this inquiry, given the seriousness of the allegations.

The next question will be that given the Minister for Justice has already resigned over the report, whether there will be serious repurcussions for other people who were involved in the cases, including members of An Garda Síochána.

Originally published 12.50pm

Breaking down the Guerin report: The complaints, the cases, the mistakes>

Read: Damning report that led to Shatter’s resignation to be published today > 

Read: In the end, Alan Shatter realised what many already had: He’d become a distraction > 

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    Mute kerrill thornhill
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    Oct 24th 2023, 10:21 AM

    >5000 Civilian dead, over 2000 kids. Collective punishment, denial of water, food & power – numerous atrocities & war crimes carried out with impunity. Scant reporting of the slaughter in western media, no calls for sanctions, no fundraisers or calls to provide arms to Palestinian resistance. Why do our media organisations deny Palestinians the same human dignity they gave Ukranians? or even advocate for the basic application of international law? just silently supporting genocide. The ugly underbelly of the EU & US is there for all the world to see

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    Oct 24th 2023, 10:25 AM

    @kerrill thornhill: it’s shocking isn’t it, Israel targeting hospitals and civilian infrastructure, 2500 children dead for israels insatiable thirst for stealing land.

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    Oct 24th 2023, 10:33 AM

    @kerrill thornhill: what about the hundreds of thousands that putin has slaughtered?

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    Oct 24th 2023, 10:51 AM

    first of all, you only have Hamas’s word for the casualty numbers. Secondly, you do know a large slice of the Palestinian leadership WANTS its civilians to die, don’t you? They know the gullible West laps up images of babies being pulled from rubble and will put pressure on Israel. It’s win/win for them. Newsflash: Islamists like ISIS and Hamas love death like we love life – they are a death cult. They don’t think like you. Just look at memri.org if you don’t believe me. If this were purely a territorial dispute, the Palestinians would’ve had a state of their own long ago. They object to a Jewish state in Islamic territory, end of. You think they wring their hands about Islamic colonialism the way our friend Kerill does about Western colonialism? Not a chance. They are Islamic supremacist.

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    Oct 24th 2023, 10:58 AM

    Russia had been sanctioned relentlessly, thrown out of international financial systems, Russian individuals wealth was take from them. I personally organised a fundraiser making €1.5k for Ujranian refugees, my home village was 25% Ukranian (welcomed with open arms) at one stage last year. The West bombed Russian infrastructure, provided >$150bn in weapons & military support, it runs non-stop propoganda for Ukraine. Conversely, the West provides bombs for Israel to kill Palestinian refugees, it denies them food, water & electricity and our media dehumanisees them. Both people are resisting illegal occupation – other the white western supremacy, how do you explain this absurd difference in treatment?

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    Oct 24th 2023, 11:02 AM

    @Squarepeg 01: There are thousand and thousands of images and videos of the destruction of Gaza, buildings razed and dismembered children, which our media is dutifully ignoring – you’ve lost the plot if you think the deaths are made up… Palestinians have been living there for centuries – you clearly don’t understand the term colonialism is you think Benny Netanyahu from Philadelhia is the local to the region…

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    Oct 24th 2023, 11:37 AM

    @kerrill thornhill: to reinterate, Hamas WANT their citizens to die and in many cases stop them from following Israeli instructions to evacuate so that they WILL die. Jews have been living in Palestine for centuries, too. Towns like Hebron had an uninterupted Jewish presence since Biblical times until the pogrom of 1929. ‘Oh but Jewish immigration stepped up following the 19th century Zionist project.’ Sure, but Arabs immigrated to work for the British, too. How come they’re not called illegal occupiers?
    There is a moral difference between people killed as collateral damage and terrorist gangs going house to house, raping women, burning families alive, shooting kids in the head, murdering babies in their cribs, abducting >200 hostages etc.

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    Oct 24th 2023, 11:49 AM

    @Squarepeg 01: Your argument is primarily an emotive racist diatribe.. I know many Arabs and Palestinians – they are no different to us. The number of people killed would indicate that Israel is considerably more barbaric – unless you think Palestinians are non-human? There are clear international borders (1967) between Israel and Palestine – the occupation is clearly defined in law as illegal, as are the settlements. The solution to this conflict is respecting both parties, international law and a negotiated peaceful coexistence.

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    Oct 24th 2023, 12:14 PM

    @kerrill thornhill: you are living in a fantasy land. Both sides covet the land, but only one party wants peaceful coexistence, the other wants to annihilate all Jews from Palestine. What clearer proof of that do you need than Hamas’s rampage on Oct 7th, which you never seem to mention.
    Nothing racist in what I said. Of course, the Palestinians are as human as you or I, but I was referring to their culture, which is absolutely different from ours. I mean, it’s not like they go to much trouble to hide it. They glorify martyrs by naming streets after them and paying their families rewards. This world is just a stepping stone to Paradise. Did you not know this?

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    Oct 24th 2023, 12:46 PM

    @Squarepeg 01: Your racist depiction of Arabs is ridiculous, straight from the daily telegraph. As is your insistence that Palestinians want to wipe out Israel – Fatah agree to the legal boundaries, even Hamas changed their charter to recognise the 1967 international boundaries. If you think Israel can continue illegally occupying & ethnically cleansing Palestine without starting a regional war – you are mistaken. World opinion is firmly in Palestinians court, and against the genocide in Gaza – Israel is alienating every one of it’s friends by ignoring international law.

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    Oct 24th 2023, 1:24 PM

    @kerrill thornhill: The settlements may exacerbate the situation, but the deeper problem for Islamists is the existence of Israel itself. You and the millions of other pro-Palestinian Westerners can continue to bury your heads in the sand about the types of people you are supporting all you like, but doing so has consequences. If they destroy Israel, do you think the West won’t be next? 10% of France’s population is Muslim. Many major European cities are already hotbeds of jihadi activity – what do you think it will be like as the Muslim population approaches parity? Putting Mulsim grievances down to Western colonialism would severely mischaracterise the situation – a very large number of them want to live under some form of sharia law. This is a spiritual battle, for us and them.

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    Oct 24th 2023, 3:43 PM

    @Squarepeg 01: You are completely ignoring the internationally recognised legal position, rambling about holy wars & spiritual battles – weirdos thinking the bible/torah is a property register started this mess. How about respecting the internationally recognised border, that over 130 countries have agreed to, along with Palestinian leadership. Just enforce this border, demilitarise the region and bring in peacekeepers. No one will win in a war

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    Oct 24th 2023, 5:07 PM

    @kerrill thornhill: with every reply you make, the more obvious it becomes that you don’t really understand the people you are supporting. You’re secular. You mouth the left wing shibboleths of ‘colonialism’ and ‘occupation’ while mocking ‘weirdos’ who believe in the Torah and the Bible. Are you so unself-aware not to realise how strongly your Palestinian buddies believe in the Qu’ran? Why do you think they shout ‘Alahu Akbar’ when they kill the Kafir? It’s funny in a way. Saul Alinsky taught the radical left how to use the values of the West against its own institutions in order to bring them down. Hamas and other Islamists are using a similar tactic, only this time they are hooking into the intersectional oppression narrative of the Left. In other words, you are being played.

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    Oct 24th 2023, 9:07 AM

    Where is kerrill the Russian bot? Where are you with your deflection?

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    Oct 24th 2023, 9:40 AM

    Last seen entering the Gaza strip in a hot-pants and gimp mask waving a rainbow flag.

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    Oct 24th 2023, 9:52 AM

    Good morning invisible man. I’m working, but will take a moment to share with you Bibis own published plans to ethnically cleanse Gaza below: EU/US politicians & media are aware of the plans, but have done nothing to stop this genocide – effectively controlled by military intelligence. They are blindly going along with a decades long campaign to dehumanise Palestinians, cover up their appalling treatment and normalise the llegal occupation. https://mondoweiss.net/2023/10/israeli-think-tank-lays-out-a-blueprint-for-the-complete-ethnic-cleansing-of-gaza/?utm_content=buffera2434&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=buffer

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    Oct 24th 2023, 9:56 AM

    If our media is too cowardly to report the thousands of dead children and the carpet bombing of schools, hospitals and churches – I consider it an obligation to speak out about it. An anonymous person accusing me of deflection or being a bot, is quite ironic. Have a good day

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    Oct 24th 2023, 10:32 AM

    @kerrill thornhill: tell it to putin, I’m sure he cares.

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    Oct 24th 2023, 10:34 AM

    Lol! He heard you! Kerrill the gimpo!

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