Get all the very latest news in Ireland straight to your email every single day Sign up! Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

The Garda Commissioner has said an internal Garda review of the Jobstown case will not include the court process.

Noirin O’Sullivan told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) today that the explosive Dail allegation by Deputy Paul Murphy that Gardai committed perjury during the trial will NOT be reviewed.

Sinn Fein TD Mary Lou McDonald raised the issue when she asked what form the Garda review by Assistant Commissioner Barry O’Brien was taking.

Cmmr O’Sullivan said she would not be discussing it as there are a still a number of matters before the courts but said that Assistant Commissioner O’Brien’s review would examine lessons learned around the circumstances surrounding the Tallaght water charges protest.

After some heated exchanges, Ms O’Sullivan added that the review would look at the events at Jobstown but would not include what happened during the false imprisonment trial of seven men.

She said: “He would have no authority to examine the court process. The courts are an independent institution.”

And she added that if there was concern over the conduct of a Garda that it would be examined by the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission.

(Image: Colin Keegan, Collins, Dublin)

Read more:

Meanwhile, the Commissioner insisted that there was nothing sinister about the failure to prepare a report on how almost a million bogus breath tests were recorded in recent years in time for today’s hearing of the PAC.

Two interim reports on the matter have already been given to the PAC but the garda examination of the issue is not expected to be completed until the end of the month.

TDs had hoped to grill the Commissioner on the report, had it been ready.

She said that the data being collected extended over a number of years and was therefore time consuming.

Sinn Fein TD David Cullinane said this was “unacceptable” and he claimed the committee “could be forgiven for being cynical about that”.

However, Ms O’Sullivan said she rejected “any suggestion of sinister behaviour”.

She went on to say that every resource was being given to look into the issue and and that it was being dealt with “completely transparently”.

(Image: Gareth Chaney Collins)

Read more:

During the hearing, Ms O’Sullivan also stated that she did not receive any media training ahead of her appearances before Oireachtas committees.

She added that while media reports stated that €140,000 had been spent, she had never received any preparatory training for appearing before the PAC.

Meanwhile, Mr Cullinane asked when exactly were problems with the recording of the breath tests identified to which Assistant Commissioner Michael Finn said it was late 2015 when they were noticed in the southern region.

In regards to the Charleton Tribunal, Ms O’Sullivan told PAC that the people on the force’s committee set up to liaise with it were appointed without going through a public competition or interview process.

She explained that “as with all tribunals there is an office set up to liaise with the tribunal. Mr Charleton in his establishment set out an ambitious timeframe,” and that in order to comply with it the committee was established.