Westmeath-based Garda awarded more than €250k over bicycle case

A Westmeath-based Garda is understood to have been awarded more than €250,000 in a settlement of a personal injury claim he had brought over his lengthy suspension from the force for lending an unclaimed bicycle, stored at the back of a Garda station, to a pensioner during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Garda took the personal injury claim against the Garda Commissioner, the Minister for Justice and the Attorney General after he had been cleared, in March 2024, of any wrongdoing in relation to the matter.

The personal injury case, before the High Court, was settled in recent weeks with a confidentiality agreement.

Damien Tansey, a Sligo-based Senior Counsel, who represents the Garda, was contacted this week by the Westmeath Independent but would not comment on the matter due to the confidentiality agreement in place.

In a media interview two years ago, Mr Tansey said his client, who continues to serve as a Garda, had been subjected to "four years of hell" over the "very simple matter" of lending an unclaimed bicycle at a Garda station to a farmer.

The Garda was suspended over the bicycle issue in the summer of 2020. He returned to work, on restricted duties, in 2023 and was only cleared to return to full duties in March 2024.

A criminal investigation included what Mr Tansey called a "dawn raid" on the Garda's family home in June 2020 by detectives from the The National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

The criminal investigation ended nine months later, when the Director of Public Prosecutions found that the Garda had no criminal case to answer.

However, a subsequent internal disciplinary process did not come to an end until early in March 2024, when it concluded that the Garda had not committed any wrongdoing.

The General Secretary of the Garda Representative Association, Ronan Slevin, this week criticised the suspension of the garda.

"While I am unaware of the exact details or terms of any confidential settlement, I can categorically state that this is a case that should never reached this point," he told RTÉ.

"This was a clear case of a rural Garda doing his duty and helping out an isolated and vulnerable member of his community during Covid, and he was pursued like a criminal.

“This member was left suspended for years without clear and fair process, which to me is shameful,” Mr Slevin said.

"I am just relieved that common sense has finally prevailed and we hope a lesson has been learned here in the value and importance of compassionate community policing, and the benefits of recognising such for the good of our members and the public we serve."

Speaking after his client returned to full duties in 2024, Mr Tansey said the whole ordeal had been "dreadful" for the Garda and his family.

"He has been out of work until last summer. His family and himself have encountered enormous personal difficulties because of this," Mr Tansey said at the time.