IRISH POLICE IN SPOTLIGHT
AGAIN AS OMBUDSMAN’S OFFICE
DEEMED TO HAVE BEEN BUGGED
BY PERSON OR PERSONS UNKNOWN!
The startling and disturbing revelation yesterday by the
Irish police Ombudsman Commission which investigates complaints against the
national police force, An Garda Síochána (Guardians of the Peace), that their
offices had been bugged by unknown entities has stirred a political storm
across the establishment as Government reactions have sought to blame the
Commission for failing to report to the Minister for Justice when the event
occurred rather than finding out who the criminal culprits are which is the
main public interest in this outrageous incident.
Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Enda Kenny, made a completely
inaccurate statement to the media that the Commission was legally obliged to
report such incidents to the Minister for Justice and tried to use this
misleading quote to divert attention from the real issue here, which is: Who
bugged the Ombudsman’s Office????
An Taoiseach said: "Section 80 subsection 5 of the
Garda Siochana Act requires that GSOC would report unusual matters ..."
Section 80 subsection 5 of the Garda Síochána Act actually says: "The Ombudsman Commission may make any other reports that it considers appropriate for drawing to the Minister’s attention ..." which allows the Commission its own discretion in the matter, not a legal requirement as Mr Kenny implies. A Prime Minister should know the facts of legislation he is quoting unless he is deliberately trying to mislead the public. No doubt the parliamentary opposition will have a field day pursuing the issue this week.
Section 80 subsection 5 of the Garda Síochána Act actually says: "The Ombudsman Commission may make any other reports that it considers appropriate for drawing to the Minister’s attention ..." which allows the Commission its own discretion in the matter, not a legal requirement as Mr Kenny implies. A Prime Minister should know the facts of legislation he is quoting unless he is deliberately trying to mislead the public. No doubt the parliamentary opposition will have a field day pursuing the issue this week.
The Garda Commissioner, Martin Callinan, fresh from his
confrontation last month with the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee which
wanted to query the revelations by Garda whistleblowers on “fixing” and
quashing traffic offences fines for personal favours on a wide scale throughout
the country, where he described the Garda whistleblowers as “disgusting people”,
went on the defensive once again and accused the Ombudsman of implicating “his
force” in the bugging affair. Callinan’s constant use of the term “my force”
has rattled the elected representatives on the PAC and the general public no
end.
He ought to remind himself now and then of the Constitution he is sworn to
uphold which declares in
Article 49 (1):
“ All powers, functions, rights and prerogatives whatsoever
exercisable in or in respect of Saorstát Éireann immediately before the 11th
day of December, 1936, whether in virtue of the Constitution then in force or
otherwise, by the authority in which the executive power of Saorstát Éireann
was then vested are hereby declared to
belong to the people.
It is the people of Ireland who are in charge of the State,
Government and all public institutions in this country, not any individual,
fancy uniform notwithstanding. When you are in a hole, Mr Callinan, it is a
good idea to stop digging!
In another display of police arrogance, the Association of
Garda Sergeants and Inspectors has called on the Director of the Ombudsman
Commission to “consider his position”. What brass-necked impudence from
supposed public servants!
The Gardaí themselves, from Commissioner Callinan down, are
responsible for the public concern which is now rising about the quality of
law-enforcement in the force by their manifest failure to cooperate fully with
the Ombudsman Commission since it was established and in particular, Commissioner
Callinan’s barge-pole relationship with the Office.
The Ombudsman Commission has been criticised for not
reporting their suspicions to the Minister for Justice and for engaging a British
company to undertake a security sweep of their offices, which is understandable
considering this company would be entirely independent of any Irish sources
which might have been responsible for the bugging. The waffling statements of
the police representatives are unworthy of a constitutionally established force
accountable to the public for their conduct particularly since the Ombudsman Director
has stated that they had found no evidence of Garda involvement.
Chairman of the Oireachtas (legislature) Public Services
Oversight Committee, Padraig MacLochlainn T.D, said last night there were
"more questions than answers" as it stood. "We will want to know
what did they and the British security company discover? Were they spied upon
or not? And we will need to probe their statement that there was no evidence of
Garda involvement. Does that mean they are suspected?" he asked.
After a two-hour meeting with Justice Minister, Alan Shatter, yesterday, GSOC chairman, Simon O’Brien, confirmed that there had been three "threats" to the security of its communication systems. He did not say what these threats were and if they constituted bugging or surveillance, as had been claimed since the story broke in the media on Sunday.
Mr O’Brien said an investigation was set up between September and December last year following a security sweep by a specialist British company they had hired. He said: "At the end of the investigation we found no evidence of Garda misconduct and we shut the investigation down."
After a two-hour meeting with Justice Minister, Alan Shatter, yesterday, GSOC chairman, Simon O’Brien, confirmed that there had been three "threats" to the security of its communication systems. He did not say what these threats were and if they constituted bugging or surveillance, as had been claimed since the story broke in the media on Sunday.
Mr O’Brien said an investigation was set up between September and December last year following a security sweep by a specialist British company they had hired. He said: "At the end of the investigation we found no evidence of Garda misconduct and we shut the investigation down."
No doubt this story will continue to exercise public concern
and more investigations will be required to reveal the full truth of the
matter.
