Over 100 officers quizzed in fixed-penalty abuse inquiry
MORE than 100 gardaí in Munster have been ordered to provide statements to a specialist team of investigators probing allegations that officers interfered with or quashed fixed-charge penalty notices.
The gardaí have been linked to the ongoing investigation into alleged corruption in public office.
They are suspected, unwittingly, of interfering with penalty points in 300 cases, senior sources reveal.
Some gardaí have already provided statements to the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI), while others have been ordered to do so within the next couple of weeks.
It is understood a number of senior gardaí have been implicated by officers who have already provided statements.
The 100 gardaí currently being quizzed are being asked what they knew about the cancellation of penalty points as well as the level of their potential involvement.
Last November this newspaper revealed that eight gardaí had been suspended in a dramatic escalation of the ongoing investigation.
The inquiry into alleged interference with fixed-charge penalty notices emerged from a broader investigation into alleged corruption in the force during which three gardaí were arrested.
During the course of that inquiry, the NBCI discovered allegations that gardaí had cancelled summonses for a number of GAA figures which were thought to relate to road traffic issues.
The homes of several players and officials were searched and mobile phones were seized.
A garda superintendent who was arrested and suspended in 2019 in connection with the NBCI corruption inquiry later retired.
Superintendent Eamon
O’Neill, who faced criminal and disciplinary investigations, retired on health grounds in November last. All charges were dropped. Mr O’Neill was accused of allegedly “fixing” more than 30 fixed-charge penalty notices and court summonses relating to road traffic offences.
His retirement followed his unsuccessful High Court bid to overturn his suspension, in which he described the allegations against him as preposterous and false.
During the course of the hearing, the High Court heard how he was accused of telling a garda who was then under investigation about a listening device on his car.
He was also accused of being in a pub in Limerick in January 2019 when another colleague was alleged to have taken cocaine in his presence. Mr O’Neill denied all allegations.
A retired chief superintendent, Gerry Mahon, swore an affidavit in Mr O’Neill’s support, saying he had read case documents and had “very serious concerns that a major miscarriage of justice is being perpetrated”.
‘Very serious concerns that a miscarriage of justice is happening’