Gsoc says garda fears of being prosecuted for using force is not its responsibility
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Representatives of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc) have told the Public Accounts Committee that alleged garda fears of being investigated for the use of force are not their responsibility.
In the wake of the Dublin riots last November, it was reported repeatedly that gardaí were afraid to act in the face of provocation for fear of being prosecuted for using force.
Chair of the commission, Rory MacCabe, agreed with Fianna Fáil’s Paul McAuliffe that the “parameters” for the use of force are a matter for the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, not Gsoc.
“We understand that complaints can have serious consequences,” Mr MacCabe said, adding that for accused gardaí they can “bring great stress to families and their lives”.
“That’s the nature of the process. On the other hand gardaí accused of criminal wrongdoing are presumed innocent.”
The length of time for Gsoc to process criminal investigations against gardaí trebled to just over a year between 2017 and 2022.
Fellow commissioner Emily Logan told the PAC that, contrary to the reports of members being apprehensive of Gsoc when declining to use force, internal Garda research conducted by Assistant Commissioner Paul Cleary had shown that less than 5% of gardaí “have a lack of confidence in the use of force”, a fact Ms Logan said is “sharply at variance from media commentary” on the issue.
Asked how many complaints had been made about gardaí on the back of recent far right public protests, Gsoc’s director of investigations Peter Whelan replied “not many”.
The committee heard that Gsoc has in recent years worked to reduce its backlog of cases against a narrative that investigations were taking too long, but that it has now, pending additional resourcing, “achieved all of the efficiencies that can be achieved”, according to Mr Whelan.
He said that the number of live investigations at Gsoc had dropped from 1,138 in January 2022 to just 590 at the start of 2024 due to the commission having “improved our business processes”, despite the number of complaints actually increasing in the same timeframe.
Regarding a Gsoc officer who attended a party for Gerry Hutch after he was acquitted of the Regency Hotel murders in Dublin in May last year, the committee heard that the man in question had resigned when the matter became public.
Mr MacCabe said that the various case files involving the Gsoc officer who had resigned had since been reviewed, but that the matter is now “with the gardaí” and that Gsoc has no further role regarding whether the man in question will be prosecuted.
Further to that case, in terms of what vetting Gsoc officers undergo before being employed by the commission, Mr Whelan said that process is carried out by the gardaí themselves with a “normal Garda vetting” process being employed. Mr MacCabe agreed that Gsoc has “a shared interest” in that vetting process being a successful one.