The crash occurred on 10pm Friday night in Donegal and it was the following morning when Garda Chris O’Mara, a forensic collision investigator stationed in Tipperary, got the call.
Gda O’Mara was off work that weekend but there was no one else free. “I was told I was the only investigator available in the country,” he recalled.
“I could have gotten the car there and then and gone, but I would have been then arriving into a dark scene, which would have made the investigation difficult or impossible.”
Instead, he left at 3am on Sunday morning and arrived at the scene at first light. The investigation took most of the day. By the time it was completed, the road where the collision occurred had been closed for 44 hours.
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Forensic collision investigators (FCIs) deal with crashes involving death or serious injury. Their job is to use witness statements and evidence from the scene to reconstruct what happened immediately before and during a collision.
All of this goes into a report which can run to over 100 pages. This informs the decisions of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the courts and insurance companies.
“It’s also an important for shaping road safety policy and interventions,” the garda said.
The problem is there is a severe shortage of FCIs.
There are currently only 11 gardaí trained in the role and they have to cover the entire country, said Garda Shane Bonner, who is stationed in south central Dublin. The Garda Roads Policing Bureau has recommended a minimum of 24. “It’s being run into the ground,” he said. “They’re being dragged all over the country.”
Meanwhile, there has been a worrying rise in road deaths after the pandemic – 174 last year; 184 in 2023, up from 155 in 2022; and 137 in 2021, according to the Road Safety Authority – with many more people suffering serious or life changing injuries.
The result is each FCI has to take on more and more work. One investigator took on 18 fatal investigations last year. The recommended maximum is five or six a year.
“How do you produce proper files and proper investigations for the Coroner’s Court, for the family and everyone that deserves the proper information?” said Gda Bonner.
There have been efforts to increase numbers. There was a recruitment competition recently which was abruptly terminated for reasons which remain unclear.
“We were just told, ‘Sorry, this competition hasn’t met standards and we’ve stopped it,’” said Gda Bonner.
In response to queries, a Garda spokesman said “a preliminary process is currently under way prior to announcing a new competition for forensic collision investigators in the near future”.
The work has a huge emotional toll, said Gda O’Mara. As a result, FCIs must take part in mandatory sessions with a psychological support programme twice a year.
“It’s the volume of the work that is causing the difficulties and it’s the absence of numbers,” Gda O’Mara said.
The lack of manpower also impacts the quality of investigations. By the time a FCI travels across the country to a crash scene, vital evidence may have been lost.
“You can lose evidence over time,” said Gda O’Mara. “Weather conditions can wash it away. It might be blown away.”
FCIs say they also lack clear policies and supervision. The role of senior forensic collision investigator has remained vacant since 2023 when its occupant moved to another State agency.
“We’re one of the few areas in An Garda Síochána that’s seeking more oversight. We want more management,” Gda O’Mara said.
This week, the Garda Representative Association approved a motion at its annual conference in Killarney, Co Kerry, to call on Garda Commissioner to “urgently” address the shortage and draft a policy “to ensure the highest standards are maintained in fatal collision and life altering collision investigation”.
