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Updated 8.45
JUSTICE MINISTER FRANCES Fitzgerald has confirmed that it is “in the public interest” to take the route of an indepedendent judicial inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Garda Sergeant Michael Galvin’s death.
Sergeant Galvin, who had been questioned by GSOC as part of an investigation into a fatal traffic incident in January, took his own life at a Donegal Garda Station last week.
Galvin had been cleared of any wrongdoing, but this fact was never communicated to him and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) has criticised the ombudsman commission’s handling of the inquiry.
“I think it’s worthwhile examining the processes of GSOC that took place,” she told RTE’s Morning Ireland this morning.
I want the oversight work to function as well as possible, and the gardaí are very keen for that also.
When asked whether or not GSOC could continue to function effectively with the confidence of the public and the gardaí the minister’s response was an unequivocal “yes”.
Yes GSOC can function normally, they have the confidence of the public and the gardaí, they took the decision themselves last week to submit to a peer review which was a very positive step, but now they think my suggestion (of an independent inquiry) is the way to go.
Earlier on the same programme Fianna Fáil senator Marc McSharry, who hails from the same street in Sligo as Sergeant Galvin, said that “it’s completely inappropriate that this investigation was assigned to GSOC in the first place”.
“It’s incumbent on this new investigation to get all the information available, because it’s obvious that whatever procedures that are there are completely inadequate,” he said when asked how he felt about GSOC’s explanation that the delayed relaying of Sergeant Galvin’s exoneration to him was attributable to the DPP having final decision.
McSharry described Sergeant Galvin and his family as “pillars of their community, and indeed across the northwest”.
No outcome of this investigation can adequately meet the needs of the sergeant’s family.
You cannot describe the shock in their community, but also the downright anger and outrage of ordinary people at the circumstances of all this.
None of us can begin to imagine the trauma and stress the Galvin family is currently going through.
The justice minister last night announced that she has decided to open an independent investigation into the GSOC inquiry which preceded the death of a Sergeant Galvin last week.
The Minister announced in a statement that Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Denham will appoint a judge from the High Court or Supreme Court, who will examine “the conduct of the original GSOC investigation.”
Yesterday, GSOC appeared to fight back against widespread criticism, some of which it said was “inflammatory” in a statement:
We have been listening to the concerns of Sergeant Galvin’s family and colleagues and public commentary for the past few days.
We believe that much of the commentary has been misleading , inaccurate and inflammatory.
…We are convinced that our interaction with the late Sargent Galvin was proportionate and reasonable.
The ombudsman’s office also confirmed that it had ended its previous investigation into Galvin’s death, a decision the Minister said she welcomed.
Rank and file Gardaí had previously joined sergeants and inspectors in calling for the independent investigation, and criticising the prospect of GSOC itself carrying out the inquiry.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA), which represents rank and file officers, said in a statement that they were “dismayed” that GSOC would be regarded as an appropriate agency to conduct this inquiry.
Sergeant Galvin had been under investigation by GSOC, along with other members of garda rank. We fear that the stress of this made some significant contribution, in whatever way, to this tragic loss.
“We need to be sure that this investigative process is transparent, and that the family, friends and colleagues can have absolute confidence that this absolute tragedy has been thoroughly examined, and that lessons can be learned for the future,” the GRA said.
They added that Galvin was highly regarded by gardaí who had the honour of working with him.
“There are no words to express the pain and trauma of this past week. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Galvin family at the time of such great loss.”
In last night’s announcement, Minister Fitzgerald said her decision had come after “constructive and beneficial” meetings with both GSOC and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors.
The independent investigation will be conducted under Section 109 of the 2005 Garda Síochána Act.
- with reporting from Hugh O’Connell, Dan Mac Guill and Cianan Brennan
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You can be sure that this had a huge influence in the man taking his own life. Surely, in his job, he could have received the news that he was cleared through a phone call. RIP
GSOC cleared him but the DPP could still have decided to charge!
He had been cleared by GSOC 5 days before he took his life,
They originally informed him he was under investigation via a phonecall,
They should have had the courtesy to tell him he was innocent, via the same medium.
Prionsais, I see you’re back on here again today defending GSOC over their abject and total failure! In direct response to your actual comment; No, the DPP wouldnt decide to take prosecution with the poor Sergeant (RIP)! How can they decide something like that if nobody, GSOC or Garda, submits an investigation file for them to consider!?! You’re clutching at straws at this stage!
Charge for what.
Mark according to the interview with Kieran Fitzgerald of GSOC on Radio 1 yesterday, he stated that they determined that the Garda in question had no case to answer but they sent the file to the DPP for his consideration.
I don’t know how these things operate so maybe you might be able to tell me:
Does GSOC have to wait for the DPP to tell them there will be no prosecution:?
Is it OK for GSOC to inform that Garda that he had no case to answer before the DPP had made up his mind?
Mark, a file had been sent to the DPP. Even though GSOC said there was no case to answer, the DPP can still come to a different decision.
Prionsias. This DPP angle is utter horseshit. Why would GSOC send a file to the DPP for consideration to prosecute when they themselves had already cleared him of any wrong doing. Where is the logic in that?
If that was the case the DPP would be swamped under by every Garda investigation that found zero evidence against a suspect but they still sent the file for consideration anyway. This is Fitzgerald and GSOC trying to pass the blame. GSOC f*#ked up but won’t admit it. There was absolutely no barrier to the head of GSOC’s investigating team involved in this case making contact by what ever means with Sgt Galvin and informing him that they had no further interest in him and he was as far as they were concerned absolved of any wrong doing.
Mick,
You could well be right I do not know how these cases operate, I can only tell you what I heard Kieran Fitzgerald of GSOC say.
Precisely Prionsias. You are just taking the word of the head of the organization that cocked up. Why is he opposed to a Judicial review? Surely if they had done nothing wrong and had nothing to hide they would welcome such an oversight to exonerate them.
So like I said use some logic. The DPP will only prosecute when a file sent to them has actual evidence of wrong doing. Yet the GSOC team found none. So why would GSOC send a file with zero evidence of any wrong doing to the DPP in the full knowledge that the DPP would just bin the file as an utter waste of their time and resources?
Mick, are you a cop or work in the the DPP’s office?
Can you tell me for definite that it works as you have outlined it?
Prionsias. I work for the Prison Service and have spent enough time in and around courts the DPP and the Gardai to know how the system works.
Mick, I call your reply hearsay would like confirmation from a cop or the DPP, and even then perhaps GSOC might operate to a different protocol.
Prionsias. I don’t know how many Gardai were disagreeing with you on yesterdays thread and you still argued with them. You seem to have your mind made up that GSOC can do no wrong. And you are willing to accept the word of Fitzgerald against all logical argument. So I will try ask again. Where is the logic in sending a file to the DPP for consideration of prosecution when your own investigation has cleared and absolved of any wrong doing the person whom the file is about?
Mick,
I found this page on the GSOC site: http://www.gardaombudsman.ie/cases/referral_inv_types.html
It does appear that GSOC can conclude that no further action needs to be taken without referral to the DPP, see table first line with 10 cases. However that does not mean it applied to this case.
I have never heard of the DPP deciding to charge someone when Gardaí had submitted a file which found no evidence of wrongdoing. This is a case of GSOC trying to pass the blame onto the DPP.
Prionsias. This is exactly my point. In those 10 cases the GSOC investigation felt that there was enough evidence to warrant sending a file to the DPP and the DPP making the decision for their own reasons not to prosecute.
But in this case GSOC has said itself that its own investigation had cleared Sgt Galvin of any misconduct (ie: No evidence so nothing to put in a file to send). So again I will ask where is the logic in sending a file to the DPP for consideration to prosecute when even your own investigation had cleared him.
So as I and others have said that this smacks of arse covering and buck passing.
Heard Fitzgerald on the radio yesterday morning . He inflamed the situation in my view . Heard him a few times previously and really he dosn’t help relations between the two organisations . Gsoc most certainly needed however having ex journalists like fitzgerald who has no prior policing knowledge/experience talking on public airways about ‘criminal investigations’ and the DPP is just plain ridiculous . Simon o Brien at least had great knowledge of policing general and it’s a pity he gone . Mr Fitz I think your time is done . Save your sympathies for the family I v much doubt they either want or appreciate them in the circumstances . Condolences to the family .
gsoc is getting the portlaois hospital treatment
wrong for people to use a death to attack an organisation that did nothing wrong, it investigated a traffic accident involving garda which resulted in a death and that is it, a garda under investigation commits suicide and it is all gsoc’s fault?….come on
There was no traffic accident involving a garda. A woman pedestrian was knocked down & killed; in the run up to that gardaí had spoken to her on the roadside, then left to deal with another call. There were no gardaí present at the time of the accident, much less involved in it. The issue arose out of the fact that Sgt. Galvin said that the woman in question was standing on the footpath while he was talking to her, when CCTV showed she was actually standing on the road. From that, GSOC went straight to the assumption that Sgt. Galvin had deliberately lied in order to pervert the course of justice & opened a criminal investigation.
The gardai are investigated if the had contact with anyone before their death, it’s only fair that GSOC get the same treatment.
Very true Red..and in the fair, non-aggressive, ‘innocent til proven guilty’, non-pysical way that the Gardai conduct THEMSELVES when questioning a civilian. I, for one, am absolutely delighted GSOC exists.
Easy to make ya happy randleeen
Ah Jayo….play the ball….etc
Who oversees the overseers though when this happens. Cant be right that the people investigating a garda investigate his death. Way too open to bias.
Then who oversees the overseers of the overseers, there needs to be a line or the cycle becomes interminable
There’s no need for total constant monitoring of GSOC, but in instances like this an inquiry board or team can be set up headed by a High Court Judge to look at the matter impartially. Only fair I reckon!
there was an inquiry about who is watching the gsoc remember
And the conclusion arrived at there was: ‘nobody’. Didn’t stop GSOC leaking everything to the press, then failing to discover which of the 10 people in possession of the info did so.
The question that needs to be asked here is why is GSOC so opposed to a Judicial review by a High Court Judge. For an organization that is supposed to be whiter than white surely they should welcome any oversight into their operations or do they have skeletons hidden in the cupboards?
The ‘bugging’ scandal cooked up by GSOC was swept under the carpet as well mick. No apology there either
They will always be upset. The ombudsman is their to oversee the behaviour of Gardai. Guards or police around the world rarely see eye to eye with the bodies set up to oversee they are doing their job properly.
I think that you may have missed the point. Gsoc want to do an investigation into the suicide of a garda who was under investigation by Gsoc. You think that doesn’t raise concerns??
GSOC are a necessity cause you can’t have the guards investigating themselves but on this occasion they are wrong. That man should have been told on the day the decision was made. It was cruelty to let him worry unnecessarily. It’s just plain wrong.
Like times past when Gardai investigated the conduct of Gardai!!…AGSI and GRA hate GSOC…cos they hate being overseen in any regard..by anyone.
Randle and what of GSOC’s opposition to itself coming under a Judicial review. Hypocrisy no?
@Mick. Yes. Utter hypocrisy. I was, however, debating the subject at hand. But, Yes, I was appalled at GSOC reaction to oversight. Sophocles said ‘there is no more sacred obligation to abide by the law than those who purvey the Law’. And oversight to overall corrective action is part of that sacred obligation imo. Mick, you have debated knowledgeably and succinctly on this story overall and with passion. Well done.
Seems like its a bit of a leap to start blaming GSOC for his suicide because they questioned him, could it not be just as likely that it was coincidental with the number of suicides happening these days?
He left a letter stating the reason he killed himself was because he couldn’t face being treated like a criminal by GSOC.
GSOC or similar has to exist.. Gardai must be answerable to somebody in the case somebody is wronged. Likewise, Gardai deserve the same protection. GSOC must be answerable to somebody in the case Gardai are wronged. Rip Sgt Galvin.
Togs. Nobody is saying there should be no Garda oversight. But what needs to change is how GSOC go about it. Currently if they are anything like what I have seen they react like with our own crowd they are like “A Bull in a China Shop”.
Take this case for example. After they had gotten the written statements from Sgt Galvin and the others they reacted like “aha we have got one. Now lets nail him”. Instead of gathering all the physical evidence (CCTV), reviewing it and then interviewing Sgt Galvin and the others in a neutral manner. They went into the interview, all guns blazing accusing Sgt Galvin of lying in his statement and threatening him with the loss of his job and possibly prison for what was in essence a minor error in his remberance of that fateful night.
GSOC need to learn that they are not there to go to war with the Gardai and try gather scalps but simply to gather the facts in a professional, calm and impartial manner and if those facts show wrong doing on the part of the Gardai then present those facts to the DPP for prosecution and on the other hand if the facts clear the Gardai as they did in this case promptly inform them that they are of no further interest to them.
mick perhaps your crowd need to get used to being investigated, nobody likes it.
Ciaran. We have no problem being investigated. It is the manner in which those investigations are done.
If you were under investigation by the Gardai you have the automatic right of the presumption of innocence and the burden of proof lays squarely and entirely on the Gardai investigation.
Where as in these investigations you are automatically assumed to be guilty and the burden of proving your innocence is on you. And the investigators take the stance that you are a hostile witness and are treated as such from the get go.
About 98% of all investigations end up going nowhere due the original accusations being false and malicious. And because currently there is no stomach to punish those that make false allegations this will continue. All week we have been hearing about how the likes of GSOC is under staffed. Yet if they were to make a few examples of those that are inclined to make those false allegations including those that post “edited” video online of Garda incidents then they would have ample staffing levels as the number of complaints would drop dramaticly.
reg nobody cares about your minor traffic accident you moron stick to the topic not every item is about you dope
Great news for this man family that the Minster has finally come to her senses and appointment an independent person to oversee this tragedy. Hopefully this will get the answers for the family,and let that be an end to this very sad affair. I don’t think that discussing the rights and wrongs of this tragedy on social media is right, think of the family first before making comments. May he rest in peace.
The fact is that every police force in any modern functioning democracy has to be supervised and be accountable otherwise you could end up with a police state.
Don’t think anyone would argue otherwise but on this occasion they got it very wrong and a man is dead.
Jane yes tragically a man is dead, but can his death be firmly laid at the door of GSOC? For whatever reasons and we will never know why, for some awful reason Sgt. Mick Galvin decided to take his own life, as he was unable to handle being investigated by GSOC? Does this now mean that we don’t want GSOC to investigate the Gardai anymore, or can the AGSI please come out and tell us what exactly it is they are looking for. At the end of the day the case of Sgt, Galvin would have been referred to GSOC by his own Superintendent, so why not point the finger of blame at his own Garda management. This is a tragic case, but it is all too easy to just point the blame at GSOC, in my opinion what needs to be looked at here are much better support within An Garda Siochana for those who are under obvious pressure, be it financial or mental, plus better procedures from GSOC for either clearing or charging those who they are investigating.
I think that most Gardaí of all ranks detest GSOC and they will use every means possible to discredit them. From what I have read of this tragic case it appears the Garda in question made a simple error in his statement and GSOC took their time coming to the conclusion that it was a simple error. They then passed the file to the DPP for final arbitration. GSOC neglected rightly or wrongly neglected to tell the Garda that in their view he had no case to answer, I don’t know if the DPP had reached a decision.
GSOC took an inordinate amount of time to conclude the Garda had made a simple error, I say this is par for the course in any investigation whether its GSOC or Gardaí as I am sure both will plead under-staffing as an excuse.
I feel really sorry for this Garda and offer my condolences to his family. Is GSOC responsible for his death it’s investigation is a possible factor and they have engaged an independent agency to review their procedures in this case. This is all they can do, only the Minister can appoint a High Court Judge to review the case.
I was involved in a relatively minor RTA late last year, although I was injured. I got a call last week from the Garda dealing with the case that there would be no further action. Six months!
Reg I reckon that timescale is typical, I had a similar experience.
The garda made a simple error, which GSOC took to be a deliberate lie said in order to pervert the course of judgement. They pursued the matter on the assumption that the garda was guilty of an offence and not in an impartial manner. Once they could find no evidence of wrongdoing they them dragged their heals in telling him so & now put the blame on the office of the DPP.
In the past, GSOC has commandeered a helicopter in order to fly to the scene of a fatal traffic accident where the mother of an off-duty garda died in the car in which he was driving, then tried to question him right at the scene. They have charged a garda with assault, despite the fact that their complainant had then died of an overdose & that only one of the three civilian witnesses, a known criminal who admitted in court to hating gardaí, backed their version of events. They’ve driven straight into the middle of traffic accident scenes, thereby contaminating physical evidence & hampering the work of forensic collision investigators. And, as we all know, they spent huge amounts of the tax payers money chasing non-existent spies; all of which was leaked to the press, with the leak going undetected as they couldn’t find out which of the handful of people who knew about it had been talking. This is also the organisation that has complained about gardaí bring legal representation to interviews.
Does that sound like a competent & impartial organisation to you?
My God. Traffic accident or being under investigation for possibly being responsible for someone being struck by a car, and having your livelihood under threat.
Chalk and cheese.
Sandbag you seem to have all the inside knowledge of what goes on in GSOC, so since you seem to have no time for them, please enlighten us all and tell us who you would replace GSOC with? At the end of the day they are far from perfect, but my god they are a vast improvement on the disastrous Garda Complaints Board, or maybe you would prefer that we return to them?
I don’t want them replaced; I want them held to the same standards as they hold the gardaí. They have gotten the go ahead to prosecute gardaí with evidence which, had it been submitted by a garda, wouldn’t have made it past their seargent. GSOC investigators have treated gardai in such a manner that would result in a complaint if a garda had done the same to a member of the public. They bang on about garda integrity, then consistently leak stories to certain journalists. They do all this, yet get even more powers but with zero oversight or accountability. So are you going to tell me that they’re fit for purpose?
I was involved in a road traffic accident yrs ago, it took months for the Gardai to tell me I had no case to answer. That was a nervous time , not very nice, but i was aware it wasnt all about me , there was another party involved in the accident. The victim was completely uninjured , and to be honest I dont know how he escaped without injury , he was very lucky.
After I found out I had no case to answer , the victims family brought a civil action against me , as was their right, but ill tell you that civil action experience was far more traumatic than the actual RTA and the aftermath of the RTA…
probably wasn’t as traumatic for the other guy though..
What I don’t get is surely the same is true for Garda that arrest the wrong people and investigate them. You don’t see the Garda representative body saying anything about those people.
May get a lot of thumbs down for this but the gardai have just got to accept that GSOC is here to stay. And using the suicide of a mentally unstable person to argue against them is just opportunism at its sickest.
GSOC have no problem aggressively defending their actions publicly. The same cannot be said for the gardai. If the gardai do try to defend themselves publicly they may be subject to disciplinary proceedings or worse investigated by none other than that bastion of impartial thorough investigations aka GSOC. The Gardai are and should be held to a higher standard of accountability than the general public due to the fact that they are in a position where they often accuse others. What is not fair though is where any investigation launched against them starts with a presumption of guilt. Sensationally worded headlines implying instant wrongdoing by gardai doesn’t help either when the garda organisation stands dumbly by refusing to answer unfair criticism.
I’m sorry, but fully behind GSOC on this one. Everyone gets someone looking over their shoulder. Guards look over ours, GSOC looks over theirs, WE look over GSOC’s. Otherwise it’s a closed shop, with nothing but a guard’s word being taken as to whether they’re honest.
That said, outside of GSOC, I support someone looking over their shoulder to make sure GSOC is kept on the ball.
Frances Fitzgerald is a very shrewd operator, will make an excellent leader of Fine Gale sooner rather than later, fair play to her for appointing someone who will hopefully get answers for this family
Let’s be clear.
There hasn’t been a raft of reports about people who were investigated by GSOC dying.
It’s a crazy leap to say that GSOC is responsible for this man dying.
Incredible ignorance about the issue and causes of suicide.
If this man was finding things extremely difficult, was there no help offered by his employer?
God! This is sheer Ireland. An objective organisation does its job, weighs up the options objectively and before it has sufficient time to follow through and exercise it’s mandate politics steps in, before its done its job as mandated and appoints an invested party to re-decide if the objective organisation did what it ought to.
Objective? It’s anything but! How does an objective organisation immediately assume that a discrepency between a statement & CCTV footage is a deliberate attempt to pervert the course of justice? They’d decided on this before they’d even talked to the man.
One would have thought that Kenny would have learned his lesson about meddling in Garda affairs, but it seems Der Fuerher cannot resist screwing up our Democracy.
Paul the Minister for Justice has to initiate a Judicial review. And as the Ministers boss he can instruct her to do so. And as such a review may have consequences for the Government it is not unreasonable that the head of the Government would take an interest.
It’s vital that we have a body like GSOC to oversee our police. This was a very unfortunate tragedy but don’t throw out the baby with the bath water. It’s been a hard battle getting to this stage of oversight.
The guards have no confidence in GSOC, complainants have no confidence in GSOC, the government seem to be the only stakeholders still backing them.
The objective of GSOC was to give independent oversight of AGS, the majority of the cases it deals with are still investigated by the guards themselves due to lack of manpower and several of its investigators are ex-guards and at the start it had little or no power to investigate high ranking officers (those most closely tied to politicians). It has been accused of incompetence by the guards and of serious dereliction by complainants, even accusations of destroying evidence that implicated senior guards. Its most senior members have no back ground in investigation and have engaged several highly public wars of words with ministers and complainants.
Less guards have been convicted under GSOC then during comparable periods under the regime of internal oversight.
Not only is GSOC a failure, it was set up to be a failure and the government is happy with the way it is broken, the Irish state is willing to sacrifice a few Michael Galvins as along as they can have a load of Donal Corcorans.
I also notice the lack of any discussion of how Galvin was so easily able to get hold of a gun considering his role and situation, if he was a different kind of man, the tragedy could have easily been a murder-suicide.
None of it’s investigators are ex-gardaí, they’ve said so themselves.
Cases are investigated by gardaí only because GSOC hands over the cases they deem to be unworthy of their time; it’s got nothing to do with resources. Funnily enough, they had no problems with resources when they were chasing wi-fi ghosts. GSOC could investigate any officer, except the commissioner.
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