THE GENERAL SECRETARY of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) has said that he believes a GSOC investigation into one its members may have stemmed from inaccurate information given in a statement.
This relates to Garda Sergeant Michael Galvin who took his own life at a Donegal Garda Station last week.
Speaking earlier on RTÉ’s Today With Sean O’Rourke programme, General Secretary John Redmond said an investigation into the conduct of Galvin had arisen from an anomaly in a statement given by Sergeant Galvin to GSOC as part of their investigation into Sheena Stewart’s death in a road accident on New Year’s Day.
Location
It is thought that Sergeant Galvin gave information about the woman’s position in relation to the road which was later contradicted by CCTV footage, Redmond said.
He went onto say that the organisation’s main issue was with whether correct protocol had been followed by GSOC in their investigation into the incident.
It is believed that the initial probe into the incident was a criminal investigation and involved three members of the gardaí, of which Sergeant Galvin was one.
Subsequently, Sergeant Galvin was required to make a statement under caution, after which he told his wife he was concerned that he could lose his job and could potentially face five years in prison.
Gardaí being interviewed as part of this type of investigation are cautioned as a matter of course in the same manner that a member of the public would be.
Independent inquiry
It was announced earlier today by Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald that there would be an independent judicial inquiry into the incident.
On this Redmond said, “We welcome the Minister’s decision yesterday evening. I had written to her on Wednesday morning. She acted quite quickly as a result of that letter and she immediately arranged a meeting with us, a delegation from the AGSI to go down and… talk to her and discuss our concerns.”
She listened very closely to us. She spent an hour with us and we had a frank discussion. That’s the one thing about Minister Fitzgerald, she will listen. No matter what issue you go to her with, she will listen.
If you need someone to talk to, contact:
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say