Senior GSOC official tenders resignation

A senior manager at the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) has tendered his resignation. The official, understood to be long-serving deputy director of investigations Ray Leonard, submitted his resignation on Saturday. A former manager of the Competition Authority’s cartel division, Mr Leonard also worked at the Revenue Commissioners’ investigation branch before joining the GSOC in 2007.

A spokeswoman for the commission confirmed a member of staff had tendered his resignation and said the individual was not one of its three commissioners. The reasons for his resignation are unclear.

The GSOC has been at the centre of controversy since the Sunday Times reported in February that the commission suspected its premises were under surveillance and had engaged a British counter-intelligence firm to investigate.

A report by retired High Court judge Mr Justice John Cooke, published this month, found no evidence that bugging had taken place at the GSOC offices last year but noted that, given the sophistication of modern surveillance equipment, it could not rule the bugging possibility out.

Mr Leonard is one of four members of the GSOC's management team who, along with commissioners Simon O'Brien, Carmel Foley and Kieran Fitzgerald, in effect lead the organisation.

At an Oireachtas subcommittee last month, Fianna Fáil TD Seán Fleming said Mr Leonard made a personal submission to the Oireachtas justice committee in response to its call for submissions on the GSOC operation.

Mr Fleming said Mr Leonard told the committee that the GSOC was “not fit for purpose” and lacked effective independence.

The GSOC responded to the Cooke report by saying questions remained over allegations that its offices were bugged. Its chairman, Mr O’Brien, said his office acted properly, professionally and proportionately after it launched a public interest inquiry into concerns about surveillance. “There is still an outstanding anomaly and in the words of the judge . . . in these rather febrile areas it is difficult to know whether that could be in relation to unlawful intrusion,” he said.

The GSOC affair was one of number of controversies earlier this year that undermined the authority of former minister for justice Alan Shatter, who resigned last month. The GSOC has asked a barrister to carry out an inquiry into the source of the leak to the Sunday Times. A spokeswoman for the commission said that inquiry was ongoing.