Q:Did you fail Gda Colm Horkan? A: I wasn’t aware of Holster issue. Q: Who failed him? A: His murderer.
After MoS revealed that Garda bosses were told of safety issues with holsters nine months before member was killed, Commissioner gives blunt response
GARDA Commissioner Drew Harris has admitted he personally directed the withdrawal of the force’s gun holsters following the murder of Detective Colm Horkan – but he insisted the blame for the officer’s death lies with his killer.
Last weekend the Irish Mail on Sunday revealed a Garda whistleblower warned management and the Garda watchdog that gun holsters used by officers were ‘not fit for purpose’ before tragedies that resulted in the death of Detective Horkan and left another officer with life-changing injuries.
In separate protected disclosures made to garda management and the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Office (GSOC) nine months before Detective Horkan’s murder in July 2020, the whistleblower raised safety concerns about Gardaissued holsters with automatic pistols used by armed detectives.
Holsters specifically designed for the Sig Sauer and Walther guns make it impossible for an assailant to take the weapons or for the guns to fire accidentally.
Questioned this week, Commissioner Harris confirmed that he personally directed that the pistol sheaths be replaced with a ‘modern holster’ in the aftermath of the two incidents.
However, the Garda boss insisted he had not been made aware of the whistleblower’s warnings about the holsters in his protected disclosures. Asked directly as Garda Commissioner, whether he had failed Detective Horkan he responded: ‘I’m not aware of these earlier complaints, but I was aware obviously of the nature of the holster and the type of holster we had on issue, and following the murder of Colm Horkan I directed that those be replaced with a modern holster which has an effective foam brick, which prevents it’s easy removal.’ Asked if he hadn’t failed him, who had, Commissioner Harris replied: ‘Well, to be blunt, Colm Horkan, in the execution of his duty, was murdered, so that is where the crime actually lies.
‘In response to that we reviewed the equipment, and then that was changed. So that was an appropriate response to an awful scenario that opened up.’
When it was pointed out the issue of the defective holsters was raised with GSOC and Garda management, Mr Harris categorically said these warnings did not make their way to his office.
He said: ‘I have to say none of that crossed my desk in those preceding nine months.’
Mr Harris was also tackled on the issue by Fianna Fáil TD Niamh Smyth when he appeared before the Oireachtas Justice Committee this week. The Cavan-Monaghan TD asked the Garda chief: ‘There was a piece in the Irish Mail on Sunday about gun holsters for gardaí and concerns being raised around the safety of those for An Garda Síochaná before the fatality of Detective Colm Horkan. And I just wondered whether you could comment on
‘In reponse we reviewed the equipment’
that or not.’ Mr Harris replied: ‘A safety holster was introduced following the murder of Colm Horkan. And that was to introduce a safety holster which made it more difficult for a firearm to be removed from what had just been a foam brick holster.’
In his protected disclosures, the whistleblower also warned the old holsters could lead to accidental discharge of a weapon. In documents seen by the MoS, the whistleblower also claimed the holsters contributed to an incident which occurred just six days before Detective Horkan’s murder in July 2020, in which a garda accidentally shot himself in the groin while on duty outside the Israeli Embassy.
These claims were repeated in subsequent protected discloses the whistleblower made to Justice Minister Helen McEntee in 2020, around the time the Commissioner directed them to be withdrawn.
Asked if the State ‘failed’ Detective Horkan by failing to address the issue of the holsters before his murder, Ms McEntee said: ‘This is in relation to a protected disclosure. There were very clear rules around protected disclosures. I am not going to comment.’
The whistleblower, who worked at the Garda Firearms Stores at Garda Headquarters in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, made his initial protected disclosure to Garda liaison staff on June 7, 2019.
In a letter sent to Ms McEntee last week, the whistleblower’s legal representative claimed ‘a series of retaliatory steps were then taken’ by people in the force.
This resulted in the officer reporting his concerns in a protected disclosure to GSOC officers in September 2019.
In claims repeated in the letter to Ms McEntee, the whistleblower said: ‘Explicit reference to his very substantial concerns that... holsters being purchased by An Garda Síochána .... [were] not fit for purpose.’
According to the documents, the whistleblower told GSOC officers: ‘The holsters were officially issued to gardaí carrying Sig Sauer P226R DAO, S/A D/A and Walther P99c DAO pistols.
‘These holsters were unapproved by the gun manufacturer, Sig Sauer, and did not have essential safety features common to such specialist accessories which ensure that they have rigid protection to avoid unintended discharge and that a pistol worn in that holster can only be drawn from the holster by the holster wearer.’
Referring to the two incidents involving firearms, the whistleblower said the June 11 incident at the Israeli Embassy occurred when the detective’s pistol ‘discharged
‘I have to say none of that crossed my desk’
‘The holster was made of pliable leather’
accidentally while contained in its Garda-issued holster’. The document states: ‘The Garda Síochánaissued holster was made of pliable leather. It lacked the necessary rigidity to prevent inappropriate or unintended pressure being applied to firearm carried within. D/Garda [name deleted] sustained lifechanging injuries when his Gardaissued firearm, a Walther P99c DAO pistol, which was contained in a holster in his pocket, discharged accidentally.’
He said of the fatal shooting of Detective Horkan: ‘Six days later again, on June 17, 2020, the gun of D/Garda Colm Horkan was removed from his Garda-issued holster by an assailant.’