LAST UPDATE | 21 Mar

MINISTER FOR JUSTICE Helen McEntee has said the disciplinary process for a garda who was suspended over giving an unclaimed bicycle to an elderly man took “longer than anybody would like”.

However, she defended the system in place and said that the necessary process was followed.

A garda was cleared of any wrongdoing following a three-year suspension over giving an unclaimed bicycle from a garda storeroom to an elderly man during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The Garda Representative Association has criticised the nature of the investigation carried out into the garda and likened it to cracking “a nut with a sledgehammer”. 

The investigation was carried out by the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which is tasked with probing the most serious of offences.

Speaking to RTÉ today, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee insisted at first that she would not comment on “any specific case”.

“We have a process and I think it’s important that the process is allowed to follow due course. There is an outcome there and we all fully accept the outcome,” she said.

“I think what’s most important for me as minister is making sure the disciplinary process or any other like it is efficient, that it acts in a quick way and the outcome is beneficial for all of those involved.”

When pushed for a reaction to the investigation, McEntee reiterated that “what’s most important to me is that you have a system that’s efficient and effective and that where somebody is cleared, that that can be done as quickly as possible”.

“But there is a process and you have to allow that to take its course. I’m not going to comment on any individual case,” she said.

She later admitted that “this particular case certainly took longer than anybody would like” but added again that “the system was followed”.

Earlier Commissioner Drew Harris in a statement to the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee said that not all the information about the case was in the public domain. He confirmed that no further action was to be taken against the garda.

“I am reluctant to engage in the detail of this because a lot of detail is not in the public domain,” he said.

In response Brendan O’Connor, the President of the Garda Representative Association, criticised the comment by the Commissioner and said that the garda has been “fully vindicated” our member and endorsed the integrity of his actions and decision making.

“On a day that should be about acknowledging the finding of no wrongdoing and restoring the dignity and reputation of this member, the Garda Commissioner has chosen to make comments that had the potential to cast a doubt over that reputation,” he said. 

O’Connor said that the garda has gone through “almost four years of hell” because of the investigation.

“Again, this garda showed kindness and empathy in the true spirit of proper community policing to help a neighbour in need and he has been punished for this on a personal and professional level.

“We believe that instead of making comments which could be interpreted as questioning those findings, the Commissioner should have perhaps conceded that this entire investigation was in part mishandled, escalated and then drawn out beyond normal comprehension.

“We once again stand in solidarity with this member and his family and will continue to offer our supports as he resumes his career that he clearly is entitled to do with dignity and respect,” O’Connor added. 

With additional reporting from Niall O’Connor