Former Garda chief inspector ‘saddened’ by Smithwick findings of collusion

An Garda Síochána will have "bad apples" like any other organisation but the majority of the force are "decent, principled people," former Garda chief inspector Kathleen O'Toole has said.

Ms O'Toole was speaking after an event in Washington when asked for her response to last month's Smithwick Tribunal report, which found Garda collusion in the IRA murders of two RUC officers.

The first chief inspector of the Garda Inspectorate, who served a six-year term until 2012, said she was “disappointed” and “saddened” by the findings into the 1989 killings.

“My hope is that anything than happened then happened then and that the guards are well beyond that at this point,” Ms O’Toole, who was Boston’s first female police commissioner, said.

Asked about the tribunal’s conclusion that the Garda had a culture of circling the wagons within senior ranks to protect its reputation, she said: “Police culture anywhere in the world has in the past been an insular culture but I think times have changed.”

Ms O'Toole addressed the event to mark Nollaig na mBan hosted by the Irish-American Partnership, a charity which provides grants to primary schools and educational institutions in Ireland.