![The witness said that 'every second day I got a phone call from somebody, between commissioners, all [Garda] ranks down along, members of the Dáil, their secretaries, TDs and councillors'. Photograph: Eric Luke](https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/7VFW3R3VNFLG5G6HL6UFFF2GMY.jpg?auth=cf2086fda8182d818e8dc8622953232f26667179cb7e18e7bee76b109dd3ba7c&smart=true&width=1024&height=576)
A retired Garda superintendent has given evidence in court that he “looked after” hundreds of summonses and that he received almost daily requests about such matters, including from Garda commissioners and elected TDs.
Retired Limerick divisional supt Sean Corcoran, with an address in Co Clare, was giving evidence in the trial of retired supt Eamon O’Neill and four serving officers on Wednesday. All five accused deny charges of acting unlawfully in quashing pending or potential road traffic summonses for motorists.
Mr Corcoran, cross-examined by Mr O’Neill’s barrister, senior counsel Felix McEnroy, was asked if it had been “unusual” for members of the public to contact him, “in relation to particular concerns that they might have had, in relation to summonses, or road traffic matters, or Garda matters, or whatever?”
Mr Corcoran replied: “It was very usual, judge, in my time as a superintendent. I’d say every second day I got a phone call from somebody, between commissioners, all [Garda] ranks down along, members of the Dáil, their secretaries, TDs and councillors.
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“When you are a Super [superintendent], they all know where you are, and they’d contact you. So, I would say I probably looked after a couple of hundred different summonses in my time.”
Mr Corcoran stated that when he was a detective inspector, in 1992, he was in charge of “Operation Silo”, which targeted the activities of the IRA and other subversives.
Mr Corcoran said he placed Mr O’Neill, then Garda O’Neill, into this special group of 20 gardaí that were involved in “searching subversives, properties and farms, and arresting and interrogating each property owner”.
He said Mr O’Neill had been highly dedicated in the pursuance of IRA weapons and explosives.
“We had major successes in discovering IRA bunkers, weapons, safe houses, training camps, and, as a result, the gardaí received really important information from our duty.”
Mr Corcoran said he was promoted to the rank of superintendent on the back of the success of Operation Silo.
He said he later deployed then Garda O’Neill to a “stolen car squad” of officers to respond to “a rampage of stolen cars over the city of Limerick, the majority of which were taken to Southill and burned”.
Mr Corcoran described Mr O’Neill as one of the “most loyal and dedicated members” that he encountered in his 40 years of service in the force.
He said Mr O’Neill, when a detective inspector based at Henry Street Garda station, had “assisted Det Supt Jim Browne” in rooting out the notorious “Dundon McCarthy criminal gang” from Limerick.
Answering Mr McEnroy, Mr Corcoran denied any suggestion that there may have been anything “unusual or unprecedented or covert” about him contacting Eamon O’Neill, when Mr O’Neill was a superintendent, to look into a road traffic matter on behalf of a neighbour who was detected allegedly driving without insurance.
The prosecution’s case, led by senior counsel Carl Hanahoe, is that Supt O’Neill’s alleged “interference or involvement” in potential prosecutions is at the heart of its case.
The five accused: Eamon O’Neill, Garda Colin Geary, Garda Tom McGlinchey, Sgt Anne Marie Hassett and Sgt Michelle Leahy, deny 39 counts between them of “engaging in conduct tending or intended to pervert the course of justice”.
The trial continues tomorrow before a jury at Limerick Circuit Court.
