Republican News · Thursday 7 November 2002

Gardaí in the dock

Gardaí are reeling in the face of a succession of bizarre accusations were made this week as the biggest probe into corrupt garda activities in the history of the 26 Counties got underway.

The claims heard - that gardaí were responsible for the murder of a Donegal cattle-dealer, a bomb attack, planting evidence and threatening colleagues with loaded guns - may or may not come as a surprise to people in the 26 Counties.

A series of controversial incidents in recent years involving the gardai has served to rock public confidence in the gardaí.

If the Morris Inquiry is to do a proper job, it should have had its terms of reference extended beyond Donegal.

It should also have encompassed the garda investigation into the murder of Councillor Eddie Fullerton, a Sinn Féin member of Donegal County Council shot dead by pro-British agents in his home in 1991. The Fullerton family have raised concerns about the role of the gardaí in that case - surely a very grave matter, given the indications that the murder involved collusion by British forces.

The terms of reference should also be widened to investigate the role of Garda management up to and including the Commissioner and Ministers for Justice in the McBrearty affair.

It is also totally unacceptable that the principal parties in this scandal, the McBrearty family, are not represented and the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform urgently need to ensure that this matter is addressed and that the question of legal fees does not block the vital participation of over 30 people in this inquiry.

The Morris Tribunal's very existence has shown the urgent need for reform of policing in the 26 Counties. There needs to be fundamental reform of the gardaí, with a totally independent complaints procedure, the disbandment of the Special Branch and the repeal of the Offences Against the State Act.

The government cannot with credibility call upon the British government to transform justice and policing in the Six Counties when it so clearly has failed to keep its own house in order.