Probe into complaint from GRA executive

THE Garda Representative Association has called in external consultants to investigate a complaint from a member of its executive council against other members of the committee.

The complaint is the subject of an “independent investigative process”, according to the organisation that represents rank and file gardai.

The association declined to elaborate on the nature of the complaint.

In a statement, Pat Ennis, the general secretary of the organisation, said: “The Garda Representative Association has received a complaint from a central executive committee member.

“An independent investigative process is now under way in relation to this matter.”

News of the incident emerges at a rocky time for the GRA.

The organisation’s director of communications, John O’Keeffe, is understood to have resigned in recent weeks. He is the second director of communications to step down from the role of spokesperson for rank and file garda in a year.

Mr O’Keeffe is to stay on as editor of the Garda Review.

He defended gardai during the false breathalyser controversy, in which members were accused of exaggerating the number of breath tests they conducted.

The organisation was also forced to respond to a highly critical consultants’ report which found that the travel and subsistence expenses for its governing committee came to €658,188.

The expenses were incurred by the committee members both in their own divisions and travelling to headquarters for executive meetings.

In a subsequent interview, Mr Ennis said he wanted a more professional structure in the organisation.

At the time, he said he accepted the report’s findings and blamed infighting at senior level for the claims of dysfunction in the organisation.

He told RTE’s Morning Ireland last January: “The infighting is political and a consequence of decisions from the past and a lack of training.”

He also acknowledged that the expenses were disproportionate and the accounting system was “archaic”.