FILES RELATING to complaints to the Garda Complaints Board were destroyed by the board in 2005 on the advice of the Attorney General.
This was despite the fact that at least one of the complaints was also the subject of court proceedings, The Irish Timeshas learned.
The Sinn Féin spokesman on justice, Aengus Ó Snodaigh, will today ask the Minister for Justice and the Taoiseach a number of questions about the matter, which relates to the arrest of a member of Sinn Féin, James Sheehan from Ardfert, Co Kerry, in 1989.
Mr Sheehan complained unsuccessfully to the Garda Complaints Board about the arrest.
At the time Mr Sheehan was told that a gun was found in his car and ammunition was found in his home. No charges were ever brought against him. And according to the Dáil question from Mr Ó Snodaigh, when he sought access to the gun and ammunition allegedly found he was told in 2000 that they had been destroyed.
In March 2006 Mr Sheehan instituted proceedings in the High Court, seeking to sue the Garda Commissioner, the Minister for Justice, Ireland and the Attorney General for wrongful arrest, assault and malicious prosecution.
He has sought discovery of documents in support of his case. The State has claimed that the case is statute-barred under the Statute of Limitations.
On March 3rd this year he sought his files from the Garda Complaints Board in support of his case, and on March 16th he received a letter which stated: “I want to confirm to you that in August 2008 the files relating to complaint numbers 980709 and 000556 were destroyed. Following advice from the Attorney General and a decision of the Board all files relating to finalised complaints up to and including 2005 have been destroyed.”
Mr Ó Snodaigh will put several questions on the issue to Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern today.