Tribunal finds Athlone Garda's complaints "not justified"

The Disclosures Tribunal has found that allegations by Athlone-based Garda Nicholas Keogh that he was targeted or discredited by senior officers of An Garda Síochána after he made a protected disclosure are not justified.

In a lengthy report running to up to 800 pages, the Tribunal, chaired by Judge Sean Ryan, said his complaints of being targeted “are not substantiated.”

It said it had considered of all of the instances of targeting and discrediting that Garda Keogh set out in his complaint and is satisfied on the evidence that the complaints are not justified.

The report, the Fourth Interim Report of the Tribunal, continues: “This is not to say that everything that happened in relation to Garda Keogh was satisfactory. Neither does it mean that Garda Keogh acted in bad faith. It is important, however, in fairness to the serving and retired garda officers whom Garda Keogh accused of serious misconduct, to state that the tribunal finds that the charges are not substantiated.”

The Disclosures Tribunal had heard that Garda Keogh in his protected disclosure had alleged “interaction between serving members of An Garda Síochána who were stationed in Athlone or had been stationed there and persons involved in the sale and supply of drugs in Athlone.”

He complained to the Tribunal he was harassed as a result of the disclosure.

The tribunal report, published today, said that Garda Keogh’s complaints, about twenty-two specific episodes following the protected disclosure “are in some instances and in some respects understandable, but on full investigation they are revealed to be unfounded and essentially misconceived.”

The Tribunal report notes: “A feature that is absent from all of the cases is any connection between the behaviour of the senior officers concerned and the fact that Garda Keogh had made a protected disclosure. There were occasions when his position as a whistleblower had to be taken into account but what was not evident in the entire consideration was that the officers did anything that he claims as hostile for the reason that he had made a protected disclosure.

It added that it was “also significant” that no colleague of any level of seniority who was concerned in the incidents in issue supported Garda Keogh’s claim of being targeted or discredited by senior officers.

The tribunal report noted that it contained “some criticisms of the officers whom Garda Keogh accuses but it rejects his allegations that they targeted or discredited him in the cases that he pursued and that were the subject of documentary and oral evidence at the hearings.”

Nothing that person reading the report may wonder “how Garda Keogh could be wrong about all of the allegations he makes”, the report said: “The answer is not that he is wholly wrong, although in some instances that is the position, but rather that his allegations and his interpretations are based on an accumulation over time of apparently reasonable grievances and some understandable misjudgements, in addition to misinterpretations of events because of distorted thinking and judgement.”

It said Garda Keogh made his complaint about wrongdoing in good faith.

“There is no question that it was frivolous or vexatious.”

He made his disclosure rather than using a confidential reporting system because he did not trust An Garda Síochána to investigate the matter properly.

The report notes: “There was a rational basis for his suspicions about the force because of troubles that it was having at the time, and earlier events, including those that had given rise to the establishment of this tribunal and other inquiries, so it was not a fanciful or wholly unfounded opinion.”

“It took courage for Garda Keogh to report the alleged wrongdoing, and that would have been a cause of some considerable stress even if he had availed himself of confidentiality. The fact that he consented to making his disclosures public is one of the factors that increased the pressure on him.”

TOP: Garda Nicky Keogh at the Disclosures Tribunal in Dublin Castle, Dublin. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins