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THE GARDA OMBUDSMAN Commission’s ongoing criticism of the force continued yesterday with a damning report on the assault of Anthony Holness while in the custody of Waterford Garda Station.
GSOC again claimed members of the force did not cooperate with its investigation and refused to supply information when it was requested.
The Commission was investigating claims the 38-year-old local man was beaten repeatedly and kicked in the head by gardaí who arrested him after he was found urinating on the street.
The Commission was also critical of Waterford Garda Station for illegally recording telephone conversations and called on Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan to immediately review procedures.
The report follows a number of recent criticisms by GSOC over what it perceives is a lack of cooperation from the force when it is carrying out investigations into officers.
Jailed
Two former members of the force – Garda Daniel Hickey and Sergeant Martha McEnery – were convicted of assaulting Mr Holness in Waterford Circuit Court in November 2011.
Another former garda, John Burke, who was charged with monitoring CCTV in the station, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice after he moved the cameras as the assault was taking place.
Hickey and Burke were both given custodial sentences by Judge Leonie Reynolds while McEnery escaped with a suspended sentence.
A fourth garda, Alan Kissane, was cleared of all charges brought forward by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Concerned
GSOC said cooperation was exemplary from some officers who were not on trial but in other cases it found support from gardaí “slow and less than optimal”.
“An effect on the investigation was that some documentation sought by GSOC from the Garda Síochána was procured at a very late stage in the investigation, some not received at all,” the report said.
“It is a cause of concern to the Ombudsman Commission that documentation it sought from the Garda Síochána and which was not supplied, was then produced in the course of the trial by the Defence for certain accused.”
GSOC also said the station’s practice of recording all incoming and outgoing calls on a public telephone line was in breach of statutes governing such procedures.
“On consideration of the ruling of the court the Garda Commissioner may wish to re-evaluate his practice regarding the recording of such calls and the consents required if it is to be permissible to use such recordings in evidence,” it said.
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What a country Ireland is at last growing into to. Its starting to mature at last… Excellent idea
Its about time Irish heroes who fought in the great war, world war 2 and other wars for foreign armies, namely the British army are remembered. Credit has to be given to Myles Dungan and Kevin Myers for their continuous writing on this topic over the years and of course Mary McAleese for the fantastic work she did in her time as president.
There was great economic pressure at the time of this recruitment, jobs were scare and people thought that the war would be short, It was a bit of an adventure for a lot of them. Unfortunately it did not turn out like that and the Irish suffered the greatest proportion of fatalities per capita of any people in the allied forces. They were treated as cannon fodder, there was nothing noble or heroic about being ordered out in your thousands to climb up a sea cliff while thousands of Ottoman soldiers shoot at you or charging across a bare field at German artillery. I certainly feel pity for them and how they were used. Like Ireland at the time, most of the men from the south in uniform were pro independence and freedom. Some were not, several of the RIC men that opened up on Bloody Sunday had done their service at the front in WW1. Countless men in the IRA, like the great Tom Barry had fought for years in WW1. My own Grand Uncle fought in WW1 and brought back weapons and grenades for my Grand Father’s IRA unit.
There is nothing heroic in dying in mud at the hands of an enemy miles away in your thousands for a side that had no trouble with you going over first but nor do I despise them. Money was tight, jobs scare and the pressure to join up was massive. I’m just sad that they died the way they did, same as if they had fought for the Czar or the Kaiser.
cannon fodder is all the Irish were in the trenches!!
Indeed and a poignant point was that Unionist regiments and Nationalist regiments were both seen as Irish by the British colonels and used for first waves attacks.
A man from Galway or from East Belfast was viewed as just as useful as stopping a German bullet, whatever flag he doodled in letters home.
Bloody nonsense…
“how Irishmen were recruited into British Forces… ” I really get fed up with this lazy post independence language that suggests the irish were dragged into some foreign army. We, like the English, Welsh and Scots simply joined THE Army.
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