Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Court bid to block Harris appointment in Garda role
THE Republic’s High Court has heard it claimed the choice for the country’s new police chief would be incapable of being independent.
Legal proceedings began in a challenge against PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Drew Harris being appointed as Garda Commissioner.
Ciaran Macairt, whose grandmother Kathleen Irvine was killed in the 1971 Mcgurk’s Bar bomb, brought the action in a bid to stop the appointment.
Mr Macairt’s solicitor Gerard Humphries claimed there was a clear conflict of interest in Mr Harris taking the role, which he is due to start on September 3.
He said the conflict arises from the fact he is bound by the Official Secrets Act in Britain through his work for the RUC, later PSNI, and his role in the Historical Enquiries Committee.
Mr Macairt applied for leave for a judicial review.
The challenge is being opposed by the State and Garda who said the application did not meet the required threshold.
Justice Denis Mcdonald said he hoped to give his decision on leave today. A CORONER investigating a crash that killed two schoolchildren has referred it to prosecutors over fears of a botched police probe.
Suzanne Anderson said “serious failings” by officers had potentially handed the opportunity for someone to delete the record of activity on the driver’s mobile in the minutes prior to the collision.
Devenish College pupils Debbie Whyte, 14, and 15-year-old Nathan Gault were knocked down as they walked along a dark country road near Florencecourt, Co Fermanagh, in November 2008.
They had just been dropped off by a school bus when they were struck by a Renault Megane driven by Yvonne Seaman.
She told police she made two calls to her sister, neither of which were answered, after pulling off the road and parking minutes before the crash.
But logs of the missed calls were not