THE GARDA WATCHDOG has blasted the force for ”unacceptable delays” in handing over information about its members following complaints from the public.
The Garda Ombudsman Commission today slammed gardai for not cooperating with its investigations and failing to comply with requests for details on members accused of misconduct.
Earlier this month, the Commission raised concerns about delays in obtaining information from gardai for its investigation into collusion between the force and convicted drug dealer Kieran Boylan.
Figures released in GSOC’s annual report show gardai received 2,089 complaints from members of the public last year which contained 5,449 allegations of misconduct by members of the force.
The Garda Commissioner referred 72 incidents to the Commission, including seven that involved fatalities.
The report highlighted a number of cases were the 30 day time frame agreed for handing over information was breached during investigations.
GSOC said it had wait a year and half for information relating to one mater and said the watchdog was refused information on other occasions.
A State investigative body, undertaking important enquiries, has been obliged to justify why it needs certain items germane to its enquiries to the very body whose members’ behaviour is under investigation.
As stated, undue justification, refusals, part disclosure, or part access, were never envisaged especially as in these cases the matters asked for are considered by GSOC to be non-contentious. We consider this situation unacceptable.
The report also raised concerns about the length of time it took officers to process disciplinary investigations which in 21 cases took more than two years.
The were 567 disciplinary investigations in 2012 and the watchdog said they were very rarely completed within the agreed 12 week time frame.
Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan accepted there were delays in handing over information and said he had established a dedicated office to deal with future requests.
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