GARDA COMMISSIONER Martin Callinan has apologised to the community of north Mayo for remarks made by gardaí based there during which they are alleged to have joked about raping and deporting a woman arrested at a protest against Shell’s Corrib gas pipeline.
Of the five Garda members at the centre of the case, four have now been transferred from Belmullet Garda station to Castlebar where they will perform administrative duties.
The fifth garda was already based in Castlebar but has now also been confined to administrative duties.
All five will remain on those duties until the Garda ombudsman’s investigation is complete. It is unclear how long that will take.
In a statement last night Mr Callinan said he was “disappointed” by the comments. “I am sorry for the offence caused to the community we serve and for the hurt and pain felt, in particular, by victims of sexual crime,” he said.
“An Garda Síochána aspires to the highest standards of professionalism in our investigative and operational work but this must be combined with respect, sensitivity and compassion in our dealings with the community.”
He believed the comments that caused controversy did not reflect the views of the vast majority of gardaí who worked on a daily basis to keep people safe.
“I am conscious, however, that people’s trust and confidence in our integrity must always be earned and maintained . . . my promise is to ensure that we will continually work to protect these vital and important aspects of our relationship with the community.”
He said he became aware on Monday of the existence of a recording of a conversation between gardaí in a Garda car immediately after they were involved in an operation in which two anti-Shell activists were arrested in Aughoose, Co Mayo, yesterday week.
He immediately appointed Garda Supt Gearóid Begley from Tuam to interview the five gardaí at the centre of the case and prepare a report. He received it yesterday and passed it on to Minister for Justice Alan Shatter and to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. The Garda ombudsman will now take over the investigation into the matter. The Garda has effectively relinquished the investigation to the Ombudsman.
The ombudsman has sent a team of investigators to Mayo with a view to interviewing the gardaí as early as today.
All five have already told Garda Supt Begley that the conversation, inadvertently recorded when one of the arrested activists’ cameras was left on record when placed in a Garda car, was inappropriate.
On completing its investigation, the ombudsman will compile a report containing its findings.
This could be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions with the recommendation of a criminal prosecution or it could be sent to Mr Callinan, who would then decide what sanction, if any, the gardaí would face.
Informed sources do not believe the investigation will become a criminal matter or that any of the gardaí will be dismissed.
The ombudsman decided on Monday to open a public interest inquiry into the case. Such inquiries are opened by the ombudsman at its own instigation if it believes an investigation into certain events is in the public interest.
The two women who were arrested, and about one of whom the rape comments were made, have, one week on from the incident, not made a complaint to the ombudsman commission.
Dublin Shell to Sea went ahead with a press conference yesterday at which one of the women, Jerrie Ann Sullivan, addressed a large number of journalists, photographers and TV crews.