Garda member ‘did very little’ to investigate child sexual abuser – Gsoc

A Garda who received a "comprehensive report" from a UK police force about a child sexual abuser in the State did "very little" to investigate the offender, meaning he remained a risk to other children, the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc) has found.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said the approach of the member concerned "was not good enough" and that they were guilty of "an individual failure" which had since been "dealt with".

Gsoc, which investigates complaints made about members of the Garda, has outlined how a person who was abused as a child by a sex offender in Ireland made a complaint to Great Manchester Police (GMP).

As the case related to offences that had taken place in the State, the Manchester police compiled a report and sent it to the Garda for action.

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“It became apparent that after GMP had sent a comprehensive report to the gardaí there was a protracted period where very little action was taken to conduct an investigation or to deal with the suspected offender, thereby leaving him to remain a risk to children,” Gsoc concluded after investigating the case.

The watchdog became aware of the case when a complaint was made to it about the lack of action taken by the individual Garda member who received the report from Manchester police. It commenced an investigation and found the member to be “in breach of the Garda discipline regulations for neglect of duty on two counts” and he was sanctioned.

Commenting on the case, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said: "As the commissioner said, this should not have happened and it is very regrettable. It is important to note that Gsoc investigated the complaint received about this incident and disciplinary procedures were followed within An Garda Síochána. "

The case was outlined in Gsoc’s annual report for last year, when the investigation into the Garda member was concluded.

Speaking at a Garda passing out ceremony at the Garda College, Templemore, Co Tipperary on Thursday, Mr Harris said the force accepted Gsoc's ruling but he did "not want to go down into" a case involving an individual member.

The force, he said, had “hugely” invested in equipment, training and assigned large numbers of personnel to deal with child sexual abuse. He described child abuse online as “a growing problem”.

“Every police service in the world is facing the same problem in terms of being almost overwhelmed by the amount of crime there is online,” he said, adding that police forces were trying to work together to “triage” the most pressing cases in an attempt to better use resources.

A total of 2,189 cases, containing 3,760 allegations, were were opened last year by Gsoc, an increase of 12 per cent. Some 61 per cent were deemed admissible, meaning they met the criteria for investigation. There were 59 referrals from the Garda to Gsoc last year relating to cases where a person had been injured or died at or around the time they had interacted with any Garda members.

Ms McEntee said she was not “overly concerned” by the 12 per cent increase in the number of complains made and would monitor any similar future increases.

She said Gsoc had received additional resources and that she believed the general public was now much more aware of the commission.

Of the investigations opened by Gsoc last year, 557 were criminal and 752 non-criminal while 13 public interest investigations – where no complaint is required – were opened of its own volition.

Some 21 files were sent by Gsoc to the Director of Public Prosecutions – to decide on whether Garda members should be charged with crimes. A total of 13 cases were commenced in the courts arising from its investigations, with five convictions secured.

The gardaí at the centre of those cases were convicted of sexual assault, assault and theft. Aside from the Gsoc’s criminal cases in the courts, the complains body also made 60 findings of disciplinary breaches against Garda members, resulting in sanctions being imposed by Mr Harris.