Dublin: Garda Whistleblower 'John Wilson' Seeks Talks With Minister Over Fresh Misconduct Claims: UPDATED

John Wilson

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Garda whistleblower John Wilson has sought a meeting with the newly appointed justice minister over fresh claims of Garda misconduct.

The retired garda’s request for face-to-face talks with Frances Fitzgerald comes as the Government yesterday said the new claims were “very serious” and would be dealt with promptly.

Despite the pledge, Leo Varadkar, the transport minister, warned it was now clear that the Department of Justice was not fit for purpose and that An Garda Síochána was in crisis.

Mr Wilson is chairman of campaign group Justice4All, www.justice4all.ie a forum which includes several Independent TDs. The group have given 22 affidavits about allegations to the Department of Justice and 27 to the Department of the Taoiseach.

These claims include:

- The family of a man who say his death was not by misadventure and want another hearing. They claim no convictions were made as the person involved has connections with garda;

- A psychiatric nurse who says he witnessed the death of a patient in Garda handcuffs and who says he was subjected to ongoing harassment by gardaí after he went public with his claims;

- A doctor who claims some of his patients were brutalised while in Garda custody and that he was intimidated after refusing to keep quiet about the cases.

Mr Wilson’s letter, seen by the Irish Examiner, was sent to Ms Fitzgerald last week just after Alan Shatter resigned as minister. It says: “The replies received back from your predecessor were not sufficient. We still await the Taoiseach’s replies.

“Justice4All.ie seek to meet with you, Minister.

“We would value the opportunity to discuss our experiences face to face with you. We believe that, by having a discussion with you, you will be made aware first hand of how the system has let down the citizens.

“We believe that we can be of great assistance to you in getting a better Garda force and a better GSOC in place.”

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said the latest claims against gardaí were “very serious”.

“The important thing is that the allegations are examined and investigated as quickly as possible,” he said.

The Cabinet tomorrow will discuss options for a statutory inquiry on separate claims against gardaí by whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe and how they were not properly handled by the force or the Department of Justice. Sgt McCabe has said he feels vindicated, after the Guerin report last week recommended the full inquiry.

It found there was no independent investigation into Sgt McCabe’s concerns and that Mr Shatter failed under his statutory responsibilities to act on the Garda’s claims.

Sgt McCabe had his full access to the Garda Pulse system restored on Saturday.

The Oireachtas justice committee will this week begin hearings on changes to the oversight of the force, with contributions from campaign groups as well as representative bodies.

However, Mr Varadkar yesterday warned the force was in “crisis”, and suggested the Department of Justice was “not fit for purpose”.

Fianna Fáil TD Seán Fleming said there was “too much of a cosy relationship” between senior department officials and the force.

UPDATE:

There is speculation over the futures of a number of figures in the justice system this morning as the fallout from the Guerin Report continues.

It comes amid reports that the Government is poised to begin a major clear-out of the Department of Justice for its failure to properly investigate allegations of Garda misconduct.

The head of the Garda Ombudsman's position is under scrutiny over delays in passing on material to the Guerin investigation, while the Department's own Secretary General is under increasing pressure.

The Irish Examiner's Special Correspondent Mick Clifford says Brian Purcell's future could be made clear in the coming days, but it could be "in some jeopardy".

UPDATE: Garda misconduct ‘unlikely’ to be confined to one district: Rabbitte describes Guerin report as ‘shocking litany of serious allegations’

Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte has said it is “unlikely” the examples of Garda misconduct revealed in the Guerin report is confined to one Garda district.
Mr Rabbitte described Seán Guerin SC’s report into wrongdoing in the force in the Cavan-Monaghan area as “extraordinary”.

“It is a shocking litany of serious allegations where the safety of Irish citizens was put at risk,” he said.
GSOC commissioner Kieran FitzGerald yesterday said he accepted its response to Seán Guerin’s requests for information for his report on the response by the State to Garda whistleblowers was too slow.

“The Department of Justice is not fit for purpose. They accepted what the gardaí told them.”

“The proposition that it is restricted, this kind of misconduct and misbehaviour - inadequate investigation, vulnerability of citizens - that it is confined to Cavan-Monaghan I think is unlikely,” he said.
Mr Rabbitte said the “horrors that were exposed in Donegal” by the Morris Tribunal had failed to bring about a much-needed cultural change in the force.

When asked on RTÉ Radio this morning if he supported the view of Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar that the justice system was unfit for purpose, Mr Rabbitte declined to comment, saying to do so “would be unfair to the new Minister for Justice [Frances Fitzgerald] who is still reading herself in”.

“If she thinks I do have any advice of merit, any advice I will give her in private,” he added.
Mr Varadkar said yesterday that the justice system had accepted Garda assurances without question when serious allegations were made about wrongdoing in the force, which was unacceptable.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has committed the Government to a “root-and-branch analysis” of the practice of the administration of justice in the country and has also promised a full review of the operations of the Department of Justice.

The Guerin report investigated a dossier compiled by Sgt Maurice McCabe that made serious allegations of Garda shortcomings and malpractice in 10 cases. It also inquired into how the Garda, GSOC, the Department of 

Justice and the minister for justice Alan Shatter responded to the allegations.
Mr Kenny has insisted the central issue arising from the report concerned “the practice, rather than the policy” when it came to the administration of justice.

“I would welcome the contributions of all the members of the Dáil because this is not just about politics”.
The new Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald last week declined to express confidence in the secretary general of her department, Brian Purcell.

“In relation to the secretary general, I have just been appointed to the department. I have just received this report so I will be having further discussions with him in relation to the content of the report,” she said.
The most serious finding in relation to the minister and his department was that it “accepted without question” Garda commissioner Martin Callinan’s response to the allegations made by Sgt McCabe.

“In effect the process of determining Sergeant McCabe’s complaints went no further than the Minister receiving and acting upon the advice of a person who was the subject of a complaint [the commissioner],” 
the report said.Mr Guerin, in his report, concludes there is a basis for a commission of investigation inquiry for each of the 10 serious allegations identified by Sgt McCabe.

DUBLIN: Top Rank Gardai Set To Quit As Government Nears Collapse

Noirín O’Sullivan summons eight senior officers as calls intensify for heads to roll in whistleblower crisis
THE uppermost ranks of An Garda Síochána are facing a drastic exodus in the coming weeks, amid the fallout from the whistleblower scandal, the Irish Mail on Sunday has revealed.

Morale in the force is at an all-time low, with bitter rows and fingerpointing currently taking place over who is responsible for the series of failings that have already led to the departure of commissioner Martin Callinan and minister Alan Shatter.

While several high-ranking gardaí had already planned to depart by July for pension reasons, their numbers are now expected to be swollen by other senior gardaí who will either leave voluntarily or be strongly encouraged to leave in a shake-up of senior ranks.

News of the exodus came as Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte warned of ‘endemic problems in the administration of justice in the Garda Síochána’. He said it was ‘manifestly absurd’ that senior gardaí had been allowed to investigate allegations of wrongdoing against themselves.

It is understood that Interim Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan met a group of about eight of the of the force's 12 assistant commissioners on Thursday night last to discuss the scandal. Yesterday Assistant

Commissioner Kieran Kenny met with garda whistleblower Sergeant Maurice McCabe and told him that his access to the Garda's Pulse computer system had been restored.
Garda sources last night indicated that several senior gardai between the ranks of superintendent and the very highest ranks at the very top of the force could be expected to leave their jobs.
One garda said: What Is Happening is astounding. A Commissioner has lost his job, a justice minister is gone, a confidential recipient is gone. ... and it will not stop at this.
There will be others loosing their jobs if it is found that there is substance to what other whistleblowers are claiming.

GOVERNMENT IS ON THE BRINK OF COLLAPSE:

Pat Rabbitte has become the first government minister to warn that the Coalition will not last full term if the "current drift" is allowed to continue.

In an interview with the Sunday Independent, Mr Rabbitte also set out Labour's demand for tax relief and an end to spending cuts in the Budget: "It's gone as far as it can in terms of cuts and taxes," he said.

The Communications Minister's stark warning that government stability was at risk will this weekend set off alarm bells in Fine Gael, which is still coming to terms with the resignation of the Justice Minister Alan Shatter after months of controversy.

The Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, and the Tanaiste and Labour leader, Eamon Gilmore, have made clear the Coalition's intention to remain in office until the centenary of the Easter Rising in 2016.

Mr Rabbitte, who is regarded as the Pretorian Guard of the coalition, has stressed the need for urgent action and warned that unless the Government gets a "firm grip" of the political agenda he would be "fearful of our

chances of seeing 2016 as a Government".

Mr Rabbitte's comments are the first public indication so far that the stability of the Government is in jeopardy as a result of the controversies which have surrounded Mr Shatter, the Department of Justice and An Garda Siochana.

Mr Rabbitte said: "The single-minded focus of the first three years has to be restored. If the drift of the last three months is allowed continue and if the Government divides into factions, it is pretty obvious, really, that we won't see 2016."

In a challenging analysis of the Government's recent performance, Mr Rabbitte said: "The people are saying to get a grip, things have been sliding for the last three months, things have been going off the rails."

He warned that this "drift" would have to be addressed before summer.

"The Government has to put a coherent plan together. There has been drift, the issues affecting Justice went on far too long".

Mr Rabbitte also said the coalition parties needed to meet behind closed doors and settle on what he called a "programme of renewal".

He said: "There is no point in taking flight or panicking, but we need, in the light of criticisms, to settle a new direction."

He also warned that the broad parameters of the Budget, and of a new stimulus plan for the economy, needed to be swiftly resolved.

"Very difficult questions will have to be settled after the elections and before the summer recess," he said.

Though Budget 2015 will not be delivered until the third week of October, Mr Rabbitte said: "You cannot find yourself in September just starting some of the big questions."

He said the Government would have to immediately decide "in terms of the Budget, what latitude do we have, what can be started in construction for example".

In particular, Mr Rabbitte warned that the Government would have to deal with high tax rates: "The current high tax rates are just not tolerable any more. There has to be some tax relief."

He added: "The Universal Social Charge is punitive. It is not acceptable in any democracy, where you are dependent on the allegiance of the people, that citizens become liable to the top rate of tax at the industrial wage."

Regarded as a linchpin minister to maintain relations between the coalition parties, Mr Rabbitte also warned that public tolerance of further tax or water charge increases was over.

He said: "The consistent response I am getting from people on the door is that 'we understand the macroeconomics but we don't care anymore; you have pushed it as far as you can push it'."

The public, he said, "understand that the Government has difficult decisions, but it's gone as far as it can in terms of cuts and taxes for them".

"What people are saying on water charges is that this had f*****g better be the last piece of the austerity jigsaw."

There were, he noted, 61,000 more people at work, but he said people were saying, "'I haven't had a wage increase in six years, my son can't afford a house, we are worried about college fees' – that's the new narrative".

He also said that a new construction policy had to be advanced before summer.

The central issue remained the economy, he said, but the questions were changing, the debate was moving.

It was, he said, "no longer about what price can we borrow money, it's about issues such as when do we start a housing programme".

Mr Rabbitte said it was astonishing that once again there was an abnormal construction sector.

"Supply and demand are out of kilter, in Dublin in particular, because of the unexpected constraint where the builders left standing are being refused credit by the banks," he said.

Mr Rabbitte said: "The banks' refusal to advance credit is not causing the banks grief because they're more interested in correcting their internal ratios before the stress tests."

He also claimed voters in the local and European elections were in an "awful dilemma" – they did not want to vote for the government parties, they were, in Dublin, vehement against FF, and they did not want to vote for
Sinn Fein. "People are in a state of bewilderment, it absolutely has not settled," he said.