Gardai challenged in West Cork
Clonakilty Sinn Fein Councillor Cionnaith O Suilleabhain has
questioned the motives of the Garda Siochana in the wake of a
house search of a party supporter in the town on Saturday 19
July. The councillor accused them of ``harassment and attempted
intimidation of a family whose only crime in the eyes of the
gardai is that they support Sinn Féin, and this on the day the
IRA announced its cessation''.
At 9:15 a.m. the man, his wife, and their five year old daughter
were asleep in their council flat when a detective sergeant from
Bandon Garda Station and three uniformed local Gardai arrived
with a warrant to search the premises. The householder had no
idea what the search was about until he was questioned on his
knowledge of the I.R.A. as they searched his living room and
bedroom, where his wife was still in bed. He told them he knew
nothing of the I.R.A. and they asked him if he had any
connections with Sinn Fein to which he replied that he supported
the aims of the party.
The gardai removed photographic negatives of the man at the
Bodenstown Wolfe Tone commemoration without telling him or
issuing a reciept. The Gardai also removed a receipt of a plane
ticket to London without issuing a receipt. They then queried the
man on what was ``up there'' in his attic.
The next day O Suilleabháin accompanied the man to Clonakilty
Garda Station, where Garda John Moore was on desk duty. O
Suilleabháin demanded to know what the purpose of the search was,
and also requested that a receipt be given for the removed
negatives and plane ticket counterfoil. The Garda replied that
they were only ``assisting'' in the search at the request of the
Bandon detective and had no knowledge of what it was about. He
denied taking the negatives, and claimed he knew nothing of the
plane ticket counterfoil.
However, he offered to contact the Bandon detective for receipts,
and a copy of the warrant for the man. The councillor and the man
arranged to come back on Monday evening, at 6:00 p.m. When they
returned the Garda at the desk had no knowledge of their business
on the Sunday at Clonakilty Garda Station.
O Suilleabháin has since ensured that the man has contacted a
solicitor and urged any other victim of Garda harrassment to
report it to their local Sinn Fein representative where all
details will be treated in confidence if requested.
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