Garda inquiry finds no evidence of wrongdoing

THERE is no evidence to support claims that Killarney Gardaí may have accepted bribes from a local businessman, Kerry’s most senior Garda said on Monday.

Last month an internal Garda investigation was launched in Killarney following claims – from a so-called, whistle-blower – that a businessman in the town had offered gifts, which could be seen as bribes, to some gardaí.

At Monday’s meeting of the Kerry Joint Policing Committee, Kerry Garda Chief Superintendent Con Cadogan said a preliminary report from the senior officer tasked with investigating the claims indicated that there had been no wrongdoing on that part of any gardaí.

Chief Supt Cadogan made the remarks after Senator Paul Coghlan expressed doubts about the whistle-blower’s claims and urged senior gardaí to “kill this story dead” as, Senator Coghlan said, it was damaging garda morale.

Chief Supt Cadogan said that an interim report on the matter “doesn’t indicate” that anything untoward took place. He told the meeting he was not in a position to get into the specifics of the inquiry and could not make any further comment as the matter is still under investigation.

WHILE the conventional wisdom is that older motorists are more likely to drink and drive new figures from the Gardaí show that young men account for the vast majority of the drunken drivers arrested in Kerry.

So far this year the gardaí in Kerry have arrested 225 people on suspicion of drunk driving – a slight drop on last year’s figure of 256 for the same period.

Of these arrests 81 – a massive 37 per cent of the total – were drivers aged under 30, with young men accounting for all but nine of these cases.

By contrast drivers aged over 61 – who are the age group most often cited by politicians and publicans seeking a relaxation of drink driving laws – account for only nine per cent of the drunk driving arrests in the county this year.

The figures also show that men are far more likely to drink drive than women. While 188 men were arrested for drunk driving just 37 cases involved women.

The figures were revealed at Monday’s meeting of the Kerry Joint Policing Committee with many members expressing surprise at the age profile of the offenders.

“We generally hear about elderly men going to the pub and driving home after a few drinks but the problem here seems to be younger people. Can a targeted approach be made to address this,” Cllr Jimmy Moloney asked Kerry Garda Chief Superintendent Con Cadogan.

Cheif Supt Cadogan said the prevalence of drink driving among young people was “a worrying trend” that gardaí intend to address as a priority.

The problem of, so called, boy racers on the roads was also raised with JPC Community Representative member Sean Roche telling the meeting that joyriding has reached epidemic levels in south Kerry and particularly in the Iveragh Peninsula region.

Mr Roche called on gardaí to carry out more night time patrols in the area in order to stamp out what he labelled as “a scourge” that will lead to many deaths.