Author: gavin

Galway council to take action over quarry

Lorna Siggins at the Irish Times notes an interesting planning story from Galway:

Galway city councillors voted unanimously last month to halt all works at the company’s Coolough site, several miles from the city centre, and the latest action by the council is due to be discussed tonight by the council.

A report circulated to councillors by the local authority late last week said that the company had quarried to a depth of 2.48m (10ft) below the 15-metre Ordnum Datum levels approved in the planning conditions.

She continues:

Galway City Council told The Irish Times that it could not respond to a series of questions before Monday’s report to the full council. However, a spokesman said that the local authority did not have any “sweetheart deal” with Lackagh Quarries, and all contracts for materials were subject to full public procurement proceedings.

Bugging claims widen inquiry

Christine Newman is so far the only voice in the Irish media to recognise the significance of John White’s allegations at the Morris Tribunal this week. In a summing up of the week’s events in Saturday’s Irish Times, she notes:

The word “widespread” in connection with Garda corruption is likely to bring uneasiness and more questions about what has been going on in the gardai­, not just in Donegal, but throughout the State.

The allegation that illegal bugging of Garda stations, of suspects and their solicitors, houses, apartments, cars and telephones by gardai­ was going on nationwide was made by Det Sgt John White this week.

His evidence brought a whole new dimension to the tribunal and has led to the setting up of a new mini-module on bugging to be heard at a future date.

For the first time, mention was made of two Cork gardai­ who, Det Sgt White claimed, would back him up in his allegation. They were willing to come to the tribunal, he said, and testify that bugging was used in a Co Cork Garda station in 1992 during a murder investigation.

The tribunal had initially received a statement from one of the gardai­ but informed him that it was outside its remit.

However, when Det Sgt White made the claim that the two gardai­ would testify, tribunal lawyer Paul McDermott said it was a matter of some significance. He said the generalised bugging issue was a much wider allegation. A matter which might have been deemed to be outside the tribunal’s remit was now relevant to Det Sgt White’s presentation of his case.

Det Sgt White’s claims began with an allegation that Letterkenny Garda station was bugged in 1996 and that interviews between solicitors and their clients were illegally taped by gardai­. This was during the time that 12 people were arrested in connection with the death of cattle-dealer Richie Barron and he claimed an interview between Roisi­n McConnell and her solicitor was bugged.

However, Det Sgt White further alleged that bugging in Garda stations was widespread and this was known by senior officers. It was a well-kept secret in the force. Asked if the Letterkenny bugging was an isolated incident, he replied: “No, not by any means. It wasn’t just Garda stations, it was houses, cars and apartments and phones, and it was done totally illegally and the senior Garda authorities know.”

About 200 men and women nationwide knew exactly what went on with bugging in Garda stations, he claimed.

White’s allegations are hotly contested by senior officers such as Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty, Chief Supt Austin McNally and Assistant Commissioner Dermot Jennings, and are in conflict with their evidence.

Moreover, it remains to be seen just how far the tribunal can explore the wider implications of the allegations.

But the fact is that the potential fallout from claims of widespread bugging is unlikely to go away.

There’s an elephant in the room here and no one can see it. Why is Newman the only hack to recognise it? I didn’t find any coverage of the allegations in any of Sunday’s paper. If someone did please leave a comment.

Man awarded €18,000 for assaults by gardai

Another judge rules against an Garda Siochana. Mark Horan was awarded €18,000 by Judge Linnane in the Circuit Civil Court. Yet again another civil rather than criminal case.

Mr Horan, with addresses in Seapark, Dungarvan, Co Waterford, and Churchtown Road Upper, Dundrum, Co Dublin, had denied having told gardai­ to “f*** off” and having asked them: “Have you f****** nothing better to do.” He told his counsel, Paidraig Dwyer, that he and friends had left The Turk’s Head pub in Temple Bar, on July 4th, 2003, at about 3am. An unmarked garda car had started driving very slowly through the crowd and a garda shouted to get off the road. He may have responded in a cheeky way and said: “Have you nothing better to be doing tonight . . .” He denied having used abusive language.

Mr Horan told Mr Dwyer he had run off and had put his fingers up at chasing gardai­. He said he had been pinned against a doorway by one or two gardai­ who had punched him in the neck, back of the head and around his ears. As they had taken him to Pearse Street Garda station he was told: “You’ll never put your fingers up at a guard again.” In the station he was kicked and beaten by gardaa­ and held in a cell for an hour.

Mark Horan was assaulted by Gardai in a cell, he went to the Civil Courts and won. Even if what the Gardai said was true, it did not warrant the sort of action they took.

More bugging allegations

John White has been making more allegations about the bugging of Garda stations throughout the country.

Det Sgt White said two gardai­ witnessed the bugging of an interview room. They were beside the man and the machine and they could name the man who was using it, he said. The two gardai­ made statements to this effect.

“They told me that they were quite willing to give evidence about all this. It was in a murder case in Cork in 1992 and they can definitely give sworn evidence that the interview room was bugged and they saw it happening and they heard it happening.”

Mr Whelan asked if they were prepared to come to the tribunal.

“They are and they have made statements to their own superintendent about it and there was supposed to be an investigation but they believe there was a cover-up and they have told me that,” he said. They had all the reports and documentation necessary to show that, he said.

Tribunal lawyer Paul McDermott SC said they had received a statement from one of the gardai­ and the matter would be pursued.

Michael Durack SC for the Garda Commissioner and senior officers said that Chief Supt Austin McNally, Asst Commissioner Kevin Carty and Asst Commissioner Dermot Jennings hotly contested this claim of bugging in Garda stations.

How long will we have to wait to hear more about these claims?

Garda station bugging widespread, detective tells tribunal

This is probably the most under reported story in recent times. It appears to have gone completely under the radar. The repurcussions of this, if true, are absolutely staggering.

Det Sgt White said bugging in Garda stations was a well-kept secret. He had told two senior officers, Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty and Chief Supt Austin McNally, of the internal Garda investigation team, about it in 1999 but they both told him they were not going to investigate it.

He had made an allegation that an interview between Ra³isa­n McConnell and her solicitor was bugged at Letterkenny Garda station in 1996 when she was arrested in connection with the investigation into the death of Richie Barron. However, yesterday he said bugging was widespread.

The chairman, Mr Justice Frederick Morris, asked if the Letterkenny bugging was not an isolated incident and he replied: “No, not by any means.”

Read that again. A former Senior Detective from Donegal has said that it is a widespread practice in Ireland for the Gardai to bug rooms where suspects are speaking to their solicitors. Not alone that, but when told of this the Carty team (headed by the then Assistant Commissioner) ignored it entirely. One has to ask the question, why? Why would the Assistant Commisioner ignore such a huge allegation? Did he believe it to be spurious? Did he know of the practice but choose to ignore it?

How many laws would this be breaking? How many constitutional rights to this infringe on? How many trials and investigations have been tainted by this practice? Why has no one investigated this allegation?

This warrants at least a look by an independent authority. Oh yes, we don’t have one.

Land agent failed to mention payment

This is quite significant, and links Bertie Ahern into some rather dubious shenanigans.

Tribunal judges have warned a land agent about his evidence after he failed to mention a controversial land deal from which he received a €600,000 payment.

Tim Collins denied deliberately misleading the inquiry over his involvement in the acquisition by Deepriver Ltd of the Battle of the Boyne site at Oldbridge, Co Meath.

Mr Collins is a close associate of the Taoiseach’s and a trustee of Bertie Ahern’s constituency office. He told the tribunal yesterday he was not a political person and was not a member of any political party.

Tribunal judges said they found it astonishing and extraordinary that Mr Collins had failed to mention the Deepriver deal until the inquiry’s lawyers drew attention to his 12.5 per cent share in the company.

Deepriver bought the land for £2.7 million in 1997 and sold it to the State for £7.4 million two years later after the Government decided to acquire the historic site. Mr Collins denied having a similar arrangement – under which he would be given a share of the profit – in relation to the property currently under investigation by the tribunal at Lissenhall, north Dublin.

It was a tidy profit, especially if you knew the government was going to buy the land.

Revised plans for Cork housing project

I know this area well. The roads around Dunkettle are already heavily congested, putting in another 600 houses with the current road system would make traffic levels chronic. But O’Flynn wants to carry on regardless, we will have to wait and see on this one.

He said that given that the roads issue raised by An Bord Pleanala related specifically to the immediate area, Mr O’Flynn’s request for a meeting “will be arranged in the context of normal pre-planning discussions”.

The proposal by O’Flynn Construction also included plans to build an equestrian centre and a retail outlet adjoining the protected Dunkathel House and a garden centre, but these were deemed unacceptable and inappropriate by An Bord Pleanala.

Among the third parties to the appeal was Glounthaune Community Association.

It has welcomed the decision, particularly the planning board’s concerns that the project would have provided insufficient facilities while affecting the area’s amenities.

“This is a watershed decision for all communities in Cork in their stand against unsustainable suburbanisation,” said an association spokeswoman.

“We are not anti-development,” she added, “but we’re encouraged by this decision in continuing our efforts to consult and work with developers and the planning authority and are happy to participate in any future consultation process.”

Cahir Castle hotel plan rejected

A vivid reminder of the Trim castle controversy. It strikes me as odd that the council approved the plan in the first place.

The plan also included the demolition of the mill and the construction of 15 “aparthotel” suites, restaurants, a bar and lounge, and 44 apartments in a separate four-storey block.

The council’s approval was appealed to An Bord Pleanala by An Taisce and local residents.

The board said that the site, on an inside bend of the River Suir, was of unique sensitivity and national importance because of its proximity to Cahir Castle and its position in an architectural conservation area.

It ruled that the proposed development would adversely affect the settings of the castle and the character of the conservation area because of the excessive height, scale and bulk of the hotel.

It would “fail to achieve an appropriate scale in relation to the castle”, the board said.

Garda abused his power, court finds

It is drilled into us that the vast, vast majority of Gardai are good policemen. But what protections do we have against the bad ones? This is a clear case of a Garda acting unlawfully, but it appears no criminal action was taken against him. There is no mention of a reprimand or sanction on the Garda either. What is curious is that after being challenged for parking illegally, he forced the hostel manager to wash the sticker off, and called in backup. What on earth is going on?

Given that he was found guilty twice by the Garda complaints Board of abusing his position, why is he allowed to continue work as a Garda?

A hostel manager in Cork has been awarded €20,000 in damages after a judge ruled that she had been falsely imprisoned and unlawfully arrested by an off-duty garda after she placed a private-parking sticker on the garda’s car.

Angela Freyne (60) took a civil court action against Garda Norbert Eames concerning an incident which occurred five years ago.

Ms Freyne, manager of a hostel on Kyril’s Quay in Cork, told Cork Circuit Civil Court that on April 13th, 2001, she noticed a car she did not recognise being parked in one of the spaces outside the premises.

She said that when she walked out to place a private-parking sticker on the car, she was confronted by Garda Eames who identified himself as an off-duty garda.

Ms Freyne claimed he arrested her for malicious damage to his car because she had placed a sticker on the rear windscreen. She became frightened when Garda Eames called the local Garda station requesting additional officers come to the scene.

Ms Freyne said she was later made to wash the sticker off the car despite her emphasising that she was the manager of the hostel and it was the owners’ policy to place stickers on cars left in the area without permission.

Garda Eames insisted that he only left his car in the private parking space that day because he was monitoring the suspicious behaviour of a criminal he recognised. He denied trying to intimidate the plaintiff.

He said he repeatedly tried to reason with Ms Freyne but she kept saying: “You are intimidating me.”

Pierce Sreenan BL, for Ms Freyne, said the arrest of his client was legally unsound and based on a trivial incident.

Judge Patrick J Moran said that Garda Eames’s actions were a clear abuse of his powers. He found that the garda’s actions were within the scope of his employment making the State liable for damages in the action.

However, he ruled that Garda Eames should pay his own legal costs because his personal actions led to the case.

Garda Eames was previously found guilty on two counts of abusing his position by the Garda Siochana Complaints Tribunal.