YOU DID KNOW, COMMISSIONER

Garda chief aware of Templemore allegations three days earlier than she told Dáil committee, claims ex-minister

THE Garda Commissioner knew about the bombshell report into major financial discrepancies at the Garda College three days before she told the Public Accounts Committee she did, according to shock claims by the Committee’s deputy chair.

Former minister Alan Kelly confirmed yesterday he stood by his version of a timeline which alleges Nóirín O’Sullivan was told by her chief legal adviser that she should inform the Justice Minister about the audit on July 24, 2015.

This is three days before Garda HR director John Barrett briefed the Commissioner on the Templemore issue at a meeting that caused significant controversy this week at a PAC session chaired by Mr Kelly.

The Commissioner was contradicted by

Mr Barrett, a fellow member of Garda senior management, at the PAC this week as to the length of that meeting.

Asked when she became aware of the extent of the problems at the Garda College in Templemore, the Commissioner insisted it wasn’t until July 28 when she received the audit report, and that the previous day, July 27, she had a ‘very brief’ conversation with Mr Barrett about work he was doing.

Mr Barrett confirmed he had briefed the Commissioner on July 27, 2015, but claimed the meeting was two hours long, and that he had a minute that confirmed this fact as well as detail such as those in attendance and the order in which they entered the room.

This direct contradiction has led to growing political pressure on the Commissioner to explain such a basic discrepancy, forcing her to deny having misled the PAC. Fianna Fáil – which is propping up the minority Fine Gael-led Government – has called for her to resign.

The fresh questions raised by Mr Kelly over the timeline the Commissioner outlined before the PAC and again in press briefings on Friday are likely to lead to even more calls for her to consider her position.

Pressure has been building for many months for the Government to remove the Commissioner due to a series of controversies, but the Taoiseach and Justice Minister have stood by her.

The Department of Justice last night restated that Minister Frances Fitzgerald would stand by the Commissioner.

According to Mr Kelly he has revealed to the Justice Department key discrepancies in the timeline of what senior Garda management knew and when. He outlined these discrepancies in the Dáil recently.

Mr Kelly alleged in the Dáil that on July 24, 2015, the head of legal affairs in An Garda Síochána contacted the Commissioner to say issues at Templemore were so serious that the Justice Minister

‘Accentuated my lack of confidence in her’

should be made aware of them under the Garda Síochána Act 2005.

Section 41 of the Act provides that anything of significant relevance should be brought to the minister’s attention.

‘Why did this not happen?’ Mr Kelly asked the Dáil.

‘Why did the Garda Commissioner, having received legal advice from her head of legal affairs, not bring this to the Minister’s attention?’

Mr Kelly says there was a subsequent meeting of the Garda Commissioner, two acting commissioners, the head of administration and the head of human resources on July 27, 2015 to discuss this issue.

This is the meeting that was the subject of controversy. Mr Barrett has been asked to furnish the PAC with the minutes he says he took that will show that the meeting lasted more than two hours.

Mr Kelly also told the Dáil that three weeks before the disputed meeting, on July 6, 2015, a report on Templemore was prepared by Mr Barrett for the committee that was auditing the college.

It was not given to the Committee, Mr Kelly told the Dáil. The TD’s statement to the Dáil on April 12 said: ‘On 6 July 2015, a report on financial procedures and accounts was prepared by the Garda head of human resources for the Garda head of administration in regard to the accounts in Templemore. It was prepared in order to brief the audit committee. The head of administration never briefed the audit committee. Why was that? ‘On 24 July 2015, the head of legal affairs in An Garda Síochána contacted the Garda Commissioner to say that the issues in the report that had been prepared by the head of human resources were so serious that the minister should be made aware of them under Section 41 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, which provides that anything of significant relevance should be brought to the minister’s attention. Why did this not happen?’

He told the Dáil that following discussion of the Templemore issue at the disputed meeting on July 27, 2015: ‘The head of human resources [Mr Barrett] and the head of legal affairs may have felt isolated subsequent to this because suddenly they were not required to do very much.’

Mr Kelly wrote to the Justice Minister with further queries about the Commissioner last week.

Speaking to the Irish Mail on Sunday this weekend Mr Kelly says he is ‘absolutely 100% that the information is accurate’.

‘I think it is incredible and unbelievable what happened in the PAC on Thursday,’ he said.

‘I found the civilian management witnesses to be very credible and to be very detailed in their evidence. They were very sound witnesses.

‘I found the evidence of the Garda Commissioner to be very contradictory and certainly it accentuated my lack of confidence in her.

‘It was an incredible situation whereby on multiple occasions the team from An Garda Síochána contradicted and openly differed with one another in relation to their evidence. It generally broke down between civilian management and members of the force in management. This says a lot.’

A Garda spokesman said the Commissioner addressed the issues at the PAC this week.

Meanwhile, Garda sources have highlighted the Commissioner’s treatment of the Garda Internal Audit Section, which compiled the report into irregularities at Templemore. In March, the PAC held a meeting with the Commissioner and her subordinates to discuss the report’s revelations. She did not mention that she was to make public disclosures about Garda Fixed Charge notices a day later.

That committee had compiled reports on the fixed charge penalty points system and the MoS understands the members considered resigning over the lack of notice.

The Commissioner also attended a meeting with members of the Garda Internal Audit Committee but did not mention the irregularities with fixed charge penalty notices and drink driving tests even though they affected the GIAC’s work. At a subsequent meeting a mass resignation was discussed but ultimately not acted upon.

‘The Committee had prepared their annual report that they send to the minister and the head of the Garda Authority, they had that finalised. They had to pull that report.

‘The press conference was arranged with the media the day before. The Committee had a statutory responsibility. When senior Garda management are engaging from the very top it is very difficult.

Further allegations have emerged that funds paid over 20 years by the EU to the Garda for training were not used for the intended purpose.

The Garda confirmed there is a separate audit into those allegations. A source told the MoS the inquiry involves ‘hundreds of thousands of euros’.

A Justice Department spokesman said the minister is aware of many of the claims against the Garda.

‘The PAC is examining the Commissioner in relation to the Interim Audit Report on the Garda College.’

He said it would be inappropriate to comment until the PAC reports after its next hearing on July 13.

He added that Ms Fitzgerald ‘has indicated publicly her concern at the findings of the Interim Internal Audit Report received in March, and referred it to the Policing Authority to oversee the implementation of the recommendations in the report and to report to her on progress at regular intervals.’

Mass resignation in protest was discussed