Police Corruption in the Republic of Ireland

Police Corruption in the Republic of Ireland

In 2008 Garda Sergeant Maurice McCabe complained of shoddy investigations into serious crime in County Cavan.  He never set out to be a whistleblower  but over the next eight years he exposed gross incompetence and corruption in the Garda Síochána from a violent criminal being free to murder to countrywide corruption in policing road safety.  He suffered vilification, harassment and false accusations.  Ultimately his actions led to reforms, resignations, political upheaval. and a tribunal of enquiry.
Maurice McCabe and his family will tell their own story on RTE tonight, Monday 12th of November. https://www.rte.ie/eile/360/2018/1108/1009623-whistleblower-mccabe-family-to-tell-their-extraordinary-story/

I have just completed reading Michael Clifford’s excellent book “A force for Justice”.  It is the most recent in a long series of books and articles over the last twenty five years on corruption in Irish society and in particular the Garda Síochána.  I have also had my own struggles with incompetence, arrogance and corruption in the Garda and have had recourse to the Ombudsman on several occasions.  This morning I read in the RTE news that the new Garda Commissioner has stated that his main priority is to build up confidence in the force and that he needs the input and support of the general public in order to do this.  It seems to me that Drew Harris, while his intentions are both laudable and welcome, is missing the main point.  Building up confidence in the police force of the Irish Republic is not merely a matter of consulting the Irish people nor is it a merely a public relations problem and the Irish general public are unlikely to change their perception of the Garda because there is a fundamental problem that has nothing to do with perceptions or public confidence.  The Garda are corrupt.  The Garda are incompetent and the Garda are arrogant.  This is not merely the opinion of one man who has experience of all three character defects in the national police force; it is also the conclusion reached by the various Commissions and reports.  Therefore Drew Harris, before he begins building public confidence in the police force needs to eliminate corruption, incompetence and arrogance within it.  Judge Smithwick said in relation to the Garda; “Loyalty is prized above truth” and while morale is undoubtedly important in a police force it is worthless if it is not predicated on integrity.  It is pointless asking the Irish public to revise upwards its opinion of its police force while members of that force are engaged in smear campaigns against whistleblowers, collusion with drug dealers, tampering with evidence, fixing of traffic offences, falsification of breathalyser tests, the mistreatment of suspects, selective investigation of crimes, lying, intimidation of public representatives they deem to be hostile and generally behaving as the elite they see themselves to be.  This list of instances of Garda corruption is incomplete but is well documented elsewhere in the press and the reports of the various commissions.  Is Commissioner Harris aware of what the general public whose co-operation he wishes to court is saying about the obvious lack of willingness in government to tackle problems in policing?  Every time the subject of Garda corruption crops up in conversation I hear people express the same opinion; that politicians are afraid to tackle the Garda because they have negative information on every one of them much as J. Edgar Hoover kept files on U.S. politicians.  Does this sound fantastic?  Possibly so but when Minister Alan Shatter revealed confidential information on television regarding TD Mick Wallace that had come from the Garda a lot of people said to themselves; “I knew it”.  I don’t know if or what files are kept on politicians by the Garda but I know that public trust in them has never been lower.   


Then there is Tusla.  The false accusation of sexual assault against Maurice McCabe was, incredibly, the result of a copy and paste error but the public perception is that Tusla is part of the problem.  The fact is that the perception of the Garda as a corrupt, incompetent and arrogant organisation is justified by proven facts and in this atmosphere, belief in unproven facts is entirely understandable.  Every citizen of the Irish Republic I have ever met has a story of how he or a member of his family has had an injustice done to him by a member of the Garda.  It is useless saying to these people: “But all that is changed now” when they know that is simply not true.  The Irish public may trust its police force again when it sees Garda members exposed, prosecuted and suspended for corruption and not transferred, promoted or retired.  Then Minister Flanagan and Commissioner Harris can go to the people and say “I have put my house in order and you can now rely on the Garda to serve you and not themselves”.  Commissioner Harris already knows this because he has served in Northern Ireland where the Patton Reforms were implemented; where corruption was rooted out and the PSNI now enjoys the confidence of the public.  The PSNI isn’t perfect but it is a shining beacon compared to the Garda.  I know; I have lived in Northern Ireland for fifteen years and before that in the Republic of Ireland and I can state that Northern Ireland has superior policing.  I know that when I interact with the PSNI I am more likely to be treated as per the law of the land and not the law of Omerta referred to in Michael Clifford’s book on the McCabe scandal.  My contacts with the police, north and south of the border have mainly been in the area of firearms licensing. The treatment meted out to law-abiding sportsmen and gun owners in the Republic of Ireland by the department of Justice, the garda Síochána and certain, mostly Fianna Fáil, politicians have been disgraceful and frequently criminal.  The devious, dishonest and underhand tactics employed would have been universally condemned had they been used against criminals but that is a subject for another day.  Meanwhile the morally upright majority of Gardaí have to get on with doing their jobs and dealing with the public mistrust that is none of their fault.

The main casualties in the McCabe scandal.  Former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan. Former Minister for Justice Alan Shatter. Former Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald, former Garda Commissioner Noirín O'Sullivan and the modest and unwilling whistleblower who is no less a casualty than the others, Maurice McCabe who has since resigned from the Garda and is no longer bound by its regulations on speaking to the press or making public statements. He will appear on RTE ON 12/11/2018

How did we get into this predicament?  Perhaps life was simpler back at the end of the Civil War when the traumatised population was grateful to have its own police force composed of its own sons who shared its culture and aspirations.  The bribe taking and “fixing” of minor offences had always been there but may have grown as the numbers grew.  The Troubles meant the Garda received high approval as the thin blue line between us and the chaos of Northern Ireland and thereby escaped serious scrutiny.  Infiltration by subversives, the proliferation of massive amounts of illegal drug money, a huge and non-secure computer Pulse computer network, a growth in crime and corruption in all areas of society led to a force that was dysfunctional by the year 2000.  As one barrister put it when asked what the problem was: “A non-professional police force in a professional society”.  We gave them too much discretion and some abused it and the now the problem has become endemic.  Now radical surgery is required.  Why was Drew Harris not given the same powers to reform the Garda as Chris Patton was given in Northern Ireland?  Why can he not simply get rid of the “bad apples” contaminating the barrel?  This must surely stand out as the single most glaring instance of the lily-livered approach of the government of the Irish Republic in correcting for once and for all the problem of incompetence, corruption and arrogance in the police force.  The behaviour described by Michael Clifford in Bailieborough Garda station is not unique to that town – the failure to do the job they are paid for and the circling of the waggons at the first sign of censure.  There is ample evidence from around the country of dysfunctional policing.  In spite of this Minister Flanagan has proceeded to skirt around the problem.  He has not, as far as I am aware, ever admitted there IS a problem apart from one of “public perception and confidence” as if it were the fault of a foolish, wrong-headed and perverse citizenry that they don’t trust their exemplary police force.  I have heard government spokesmen refer to a problems of “morale and training”.  How do you train a crooked public servant to be honest?  To Minister Flanagan I say:  “Wise up. The people are not fools”.  What does one say to Commissioner Harris?  Perhaps it is best to “say nothing until we know more”.  

Garda press Officer David Taylor has resigned having been suspended after being accused of a smear campaign against Maurice McCabe.  Civil servant John Barrett has been suspended.  The circumstances of Barrett's suspension have not been made entirely clear.  He was earlier involved in exposing misuse of public money by the Garda training College

Where do we go from here?  The McCabe scandal has led to the resignation of two ministers for Justice and two Garda Commissioners followed by a couple of senior policemen and civil servants and some low-ranking members of the force who were convicted of various crimes.  This is progress and perhaps we can hope that this will continue.  The culture of corruption continues in politics, government, banking, the civil service, the church and policing.  Every area of Irish Society seems to have its share of sleaze.  Can we cleanse ourselves?  No society has ever totally eliminated injustice from its midst but some have tried harder than others and it remains to be seen whether we have that commitment.

Michael Clifford's book "A Force for Justice" is essential reading for anyone concerned for the future of our country.  I have been accused many times of being "Anti Guard" and my answer has always been the same - if any public servant is corrupt I am against him.  Maurice McCabe is an honest and a corageous and yes, a stubborn man. We should all be "for" him.  There is no other way.  There are many like him - a majority, even, and they must be supported and encouraged.

Maurice and Lorraine McCabe told their own story on RTE on Monday 12th of November. https://www.rte.ie/eile/360/2018/1108/1009623-whistleblower-mccabe-family-to-tell-their-extraordinary-story/.  Both are modest people, shy even, and they revealed how their lives had been devastated by a smear campaign.  Their genuine shock and dismay  when they realised the organisation to which Maurice had dedicated his working life had turned on them was pathetic. Ordinary decent people out of their depth with only their principles and each other to support them.