A SOLICITOR for retired Limerick Garda superintendent Eamon O’Neill has made a fresh call for an independent inquiry into an investigation into him and four serving Gardaí, including his wife, which led to a jury acquitting the five of all charges.
A jury found Mr O’Neill, his wife, Garda Anne Marie Hassett, Garda Colm Geary, Garda Tom McGlinchey, and Sergeant Michelle Leahy, not guilty of a total of 39 charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice by allegedly unlawfully interfering with pending or potential road traffic prosecutions.
The verdicts on all 39 charges were returned unanimously by the jury following a nine-week trial at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court.
A statement issued by Dan O’Gorman, solicitor for Mr O’Neill, said a “public inquiry will have the power to compel witnesses to attend”, hitting out that such an inquiry into the sanctioning of the GNBCI investigation would take “sworn evidence” and could “compel the production of documents”.
A key question for any inquiry would be “why was this clearly disciplinary issue made the subject of a criminal inquiry”, the solicitor said.
Mr O’Neill and his wife Anne Marie Hassett have initiated a legal action for damages against the State in respect of a dawn raid on their house in May 2019, when Mr O’Neill, then a serving superintendent in the Limerick Division, was hauled out of his bed, conveyed to Athlone Garda Station, and questioned about the GNBCI’s suspicion that he had leaked sensitive information to a third party in breach of Section 62 of the Garda Siochana Act – allegations Mr O’Neill completely refuted.
The investigation appeared to have been founded on little or no evidence, solely on the word of a Garda informant, which was found to have no basis in fact.
The seizure of Supt O’Neill’s phone on the morning of the raid on his house in 2019 led to the GNBCI discovering text messages which the national Garda unit claimed amounted to attempts to unlawfully square road traffic offences for motorists in Supt O’Neill’s circle of close contacts – accusations of which Mr O’Neill and his four co-accused were acquitted.
Mr O’Gorman said Mr O’Neill was left traumatised when a photograph of his infant son was shown to him during his interview with GNBCI in May 2019.
He spent 100 days in St Patrick’s psychiatric hospital in Dublin, and continues to suffer the after-effects of the eight-year ordeal.
A high-level meeting took place at Garda Headquarters late last week to evaluate the fallout of the failed prosecution of the four serving Gardaí and Mr O’Neill.
The question over the continuing suspensions of two additional Gardaí attached to the Roads Policing Unit in Limerick, who are not charged with any crime, was also raised with Garda HQ. It’s understood Garda HQ is to consider legal advice before considering the two suspensions further.
The Taoiseach and others, including Limerick TD and Minister of State at the Justice Department, Niall Collins, called for a review of the investigation into the five accused.
“Given what transpired, one has to question whether the principle of perspective was applied here or not,” the Taoiseach added.
“It seems that a review of what transpired needs to happen because it impacted Garda morale more broadly and had a significant negative impact on the careers of the five Gardaí and of others as well,” the Taoiseach said in the Dáil.
Many sources within the force have described the fallout from the trial as “another embarrassing saga for An Garda Síochána”.