Don’t reward Taylor with a plum retirement package

EVERYTHING we have heard so far indicates that disgraced Superintendent Dave Taylor will walk away with a full pension and a six-figure lump sum. Nice work if you can get it.

According to reports, legal sources say it would be difficult for Garda top brass to prevent Taylor – currently on suspension after being torn asunder in the Disclosures Tribunal report – from retiring.

We’re told that such a move could prove problematic because he has notched up more than the requisite 30 years’ service.

There is also a suggestion that proceeding with a disciplinary hearing against Taylor would be little more than an academic exercise.

Even if he was demoted in rank and dismissed from the force, it would be unlikely to affect his pension rights.

But that is, in some respects, almost besides the point. There should be a full inquiry to establish what exactly Dave Taylor was playing at during his days in charge of the Garda Press Office.

It also goes without saying that the political establishment must draft new laws to ensure that misbehaving gardaí are denied their full entitlements in retirement.

There is a more fundamental issue at play here, though. Garda Commissioner Drew Harris knows better than anyone that he has a mammoth task ahead of him as he tries to salvage the reputation of An Garda Síochána.

He needs to send out a strong message to both his officers and the public at large that reform is on the way. At the very least, he should be making it as difficult as possible for Dave Taylor to slink off into the sunset with the sort of nest-egg that the rest of us can only dream about.