All Whistleblowers who exposed corruption in An Garda Siochana have been destroyed, framed, sacked and even jailed
All Whistleblowers who exposed corruption in An Garda Siochana have been destroyed
One whistleblower jailed for exposing corruption in the DPP's office and Gardai
https://irishwhistleblowers.blogspot.com/
#MauriceMcCabe
#EvelynDoherty
#JohnWilson
#JackDoyle
#NickyKeogh
#Keithharrison
#JasonOMahony
#JohnBarrett
#WilliamHughes
#DeclanNyhan
#Sineadkillian
#PaulBarry
#OliverCully
#Loiswest
#Lauragalligan
#BrianOReilly
#Michaeldodd
#crimesandconfessions
https://www.iccl.ie/news/miscarriage-of-justice-osgur-breatnach/
Serving Garda turned whistleblower alleges other members of force lied under oath
https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/crime/serving-garda-turned-whistleblower-alleges-36999491
An accountant who was sacked after raising concerns about the level of expenses at the Garda health insurance society - having shut down a bar tab at its Christmas party - has won €85,000 for unfair dismissal.
Michael Dodd, the former general manager of the St Paul's Garda Medical Aid Society, won the sum in a claim under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 after he was dismissed by its board without notice or any reason being given in September 2023.
Part of Mr Dodd's case was that his dismissal was linked to whistleblowing.
The organisation provides health insurance and occupational injury cover on a non-profit basis to gardaí and their families.
Mr Dodd took a post as the society's general manager in September 2022 after more than two decades working as an accountant for An Garda Siochána.
The organisation wanted to improve its governance, having "traditionally" been run by members of the force on secondment, he said.
That December, when it held its Christmas party, Mr Dodd said he discovered that "a tab had been opened in the hotel bar where many of the attendees were staying".
He did not consider this appropriate, and closed the tab, he told the tribunal.
The following month, January 2023, he objected to an open bar at a retirement party, but was overruled when the Society's committee "voted to approve it anyway".
After passing his probation that spring, Mr Dodd said he started "raising concerns about the level of expenses"being paid out by the society in connection with its various committee meetings.
The number of meetings was going up and so was the cost of the expenses, and he was concerned that committee members were being paid "lat rate and unvouched" he told the tribunal.
He started pushing to cut the number of meetings generally, and to meet at the society' head office in Dublin to reduce the expenses paid to committee members from the capital, he said.
In August that year, he told the tribunal, he tried to tell the society' committee that it had a legal obligation to do a revaluation of its assets. The society faced a bill of €30,000 to have an independent evaluator come in and do this, he said.
Committee members insisted the society enjoyed an exemption from the requirement to periodically review its assets and it became "an issue" at a meeting that month. Mr Dodd then set out his position in writing that there was no exemption, he said.
He was called to a meeting with the chairman and a committee member at the Castleknock Hotel in Dublin, during which he was told he was being dismissed. Mr Dodd had a three-month contractual notice period, but no notice was provided for, the tribunal heard.
Mr Dodd said he "asked for a reason but wasn’t given one". He gave back his work laptop, and left, he said.
The society denied that Mr Dodd made any protected disclosure.
In his decision on the case, adjudicator David James Murphy wrote that the society "failed to adhere to any sort of fair procedure" in terminating Mr Dodd’s employment.
He ruled the society had caused its former manager "serious financial loss" by dismissing him "in contravention" of the Unfair Dismissals Act and awarded him €85,000.
Frank Drumm BL appeared for the complainant instructed by Collier Law; Elizabeth Murphy BL was instructed by O’Donoghue Solicitors for the respondent.
The society's lawyers had initially argued that since Mr Dodd had less than a year's service, he was not shielded by the Unfair Dismissals Act.
Mr Dodd's legal team took the position that since their client was not paid notice, his service for the purposes of the act had persisted longer than a year.
They also advanced a second complaint under the same legislation alleging that the dismissal was "wholly or mainly from [their client] having made a protected disclosure".
Mr Murphy sided with the complainant and accepted Mr Dodd had sufficient service to pursue a complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act without recourse to the whistleblower protection provisions, which would waive the normal service requirements.
The chairperson of the gardaí’s medical insurance society stepped down last year because of concerns over how the society was being governed, the has learned.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40984286.html
https://www.rabble.ie/2014/02/18/silencing-the-garda-whistleblowers/
Back in 2010 The Sunday Tribune’s Ali Bracken reported on an alleged assault by Garda Assistant Commissioner Derek Byrne on Garda Whistleblower Sgt. Maurice McCabe.
In 2008, the Whistleblower had alleged serious charges against colleagues in the Cavan/Monaghan area, including framing of innocent people for crimes, failing to investigate serious crimes including sexual assault and hijacking, publishing details of a victim of domestic abuse on social media, drunkenness at work and failure of management.
In May 2008 Assistant Commissioner Derek Byrne was put in charge of the investigation into the allegations. He had been the senior Garda based in Sligo at the time of some of the allegations; in other words he was tasked with investigating himself and his subordinates. It was reported by John Mooney in the Sunday Times of November 2010 that Byrne’s two year internal investigation ‘upheld complaints over the failure of officers to follow procedures, but found no evidence of corruption.’
The heated meeting at the Hillgrove Hotel, Monaghan took place on 11th October 2010 – presumably subsequent to the whistleblower Sgt. McCabe’s learning of the investigation’s report finding contrary to his produced evidence .
We have reprinted the Sunday Tribune report on what allegedly transpired below [emphasis our own]:
Assistant Garda commissioner Derek Byrne was accused of assault:
THE GARDA commissioner has received a criminal complaint alleging that assistant commissioner Derek Byrne physically restrained and falsely imprisoned a garda whistleblower in a hotel in Monaghan last month.
Byrne had been appointed to oversee an internal investigation after a garda made a number of serious allegations against his colleagues in the Cavan/ Monaghan area.
He claimed gardaí failed to investigate certain serious crimes including a sexual assault, physical assault, a case of false imprisonment and hijacking.
The whistleblower also alleged that some officers regularly turned up drunk to work. The garda, who has been moved from his station in the Bailieborough district since he made his complaint, also claimed that gardaí posted information about a victim of domestic violence on Bebo, the social-networking website.
The accusations were made in a report passed to Brian McCarthy, former secretary-general to President McAleese.
McCarthy was appointed by the government to receive confidential information from gardaí who want to report corruption and wrongdoing in the force. As a result, a major internal investigation was launched in May 2008, led by assistant commissioner Byrne.
Byrne met with the garda whistleblower and two other gardaí at the Hillgrove Hotel in Monaghan on 11 October. The meeting was held to discuss the investigation, which is almost complete.
It is understood the assistant commissioner had not upheld some of the more serious allegations made by the whistleblower and these issues were discussed at the heated meeting.
At the meeting, the whistleblower voiced concerns that Byrne was the assistant commissioner based in Sligo at the time of some of the alleged misconduct, meaning he would have had responsibility for the Bailieborough district and therefore could not be seen to be impartial.
The garda also brought to the meeting boxes of documents printed from the garda intelligence system, Pulse, which he said clearly showed that gardaí had falsely claimed members of the community were involved in criminality.
The whistleblower claimed that officers had incorrectly stated that innocent people were involved in crime, in a bid to increase their returns on work.
The whistleblower said he planned to hand this information over to an independent body rather than the assistant commissioner.
The garda then allegedly attempted to leave the room where the meeting was taking place with his boxes of documentation. In his complaint to the Garda Commissioner, the officer claimed Byrne restrained him by the arm and shoulder to prevent him leaving the room. Byrne then allegedly blocked the door and refused to let the garda leave with the documentation.
One of the gardaí present, a representative from the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, tried to calm the situation down.
The whistleblower claimed he was unable to leave the room and was again obstructed by the assistant commissioner when he tried to leave with the files. Byrne then took possession of the boxes of documents and left the hotel.
The fourth garda present was Chief Supt Terry McGinn.
It is understood the boxes of documents seized by the assistant commissioner alleging misuse of the Pulse system are to be investigated, but Byrne is not to lead this investigation.
The documents have been placed in safekeeping and because of the conflict between the whistleblower and Byrne, another officer will be appointed to probe the fresh allegations.
The assistant commissioner has been informed that a criminal complaint has been made against him in relation to the incident in the hotel.
It is understood he will deny he assaulted and falsely imprisoned the garda but will admit there was an incident at the hotel between the pair.
Formal statements have not yet been taken by gardaí. The Garda Commissioner has also been formally requested to set up an independent inquiry into the allegations of criminal malpractice at Bailieborough.
A spokesman for the garda press office said he could not comment on an internal investigation. The Sunday Tribune understands deputy commissioner Nacie Rice has been appointed to investigate the allegations made against Byrne.
ENDS
In light of today’s report in Broadsheet (here) surrounding transcripts of Garda McCabe’s discussion with confidential reporter Oliver Connolly we believe it’s important to log the Sunday Tribune report which can be found on the Way Back Machine.
Garda John Wilson, another whistleblower, in a radio documentary ‘The Garda Who Limped’ (available here) reiterated some of McCabe’s claims of serious corruption including falsification of evidence against innocent people. He had a rat tied to his front door.
Other whistleblowers and those highlighting problems or investigating issues within the force have been subject to threats, implied or otherwise, or harassment or derision.
This case, the Kieran Boylan affair, the murder of Fr. Niall Molloy and recent GSOC bugging claims are part of a general malaise when it comes to policing and reporting in Ireland. (more cases such as deaths in custody, missing evidence etc covered here by Soundmigration)
This has seen journalist Gemma O’Doherty fired from the Independent, Clare Daly TD handcuffed and humiliated over a drink-driving arrest (subsequently cleared), TDs harassed and Sgt. McCabe told by Connolly: “I’ll tell you something Maurice and this is just personal advice to you. If Shatter thinks you’re screwing him, you’re finished.”
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