Various theories have been advanced as to why this occurred, as bits and pieces of information have drifted into the public domain.

Last week, Garda Headquarters received the report from the disciplinary board which heard evidence about the case and whether the garda should be disciplined.  The board cleared him of all wrongdoing. 

The report and accompanying 1,000-page transcripts are currently being examined in HQ by an assistant commissioner who will report on it to the deputy commissioner, Shawna Coxon. The facts have been well-ventilated by now. 

A garda in the Midlands lent a bicycle which was the property of An Garda Síochána to a local man during covid. The man had a problem with his knees and couldn’t access a new bike he had bought because of the lockdown.

For performing a charitable act, in keeping with how many gardaí lent a hand during covid, this garda was investigated by the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI), and a file was sent to the DPP, which recommended no prosecution be pursued. 

Following that, the garda was put through a disciplinary ringer until cleared. In total, he was suspended or confined to desk duty for over three-and-a-half years.

While garda associations and some commentators — including on this website — have suggested the case illustrates how a new culture of discipline, brought in by Commissioner Drew Harris, can go awry, indications are also emerging that some of it could be down to old failings.

The issue arose in May 2020, during the first covid lockdown. Around the same time, two expensive specialist bicycle wheels were also missing from garda custody. 

In the first days of June 2020, a search warrant for the garda’s home was acquired from a judge. The warrant was issued on the basis that there were grounded suspicions that the garda may have taken not just the bike but also the expensive wheels. 

There was absolutely no basis on which the garda should have been suspected of misappropriating the wheels yet this featured in the search warrant. Early on the morning of June 4, detectives from the NBCI showed up at the garda’s home with the warrant. 

He knew nothing about the wheels but immediately told them about the bicycle and the elderly farmer. During the subsequent disciplinary inquiry, it emerged that the garda had claimed that days earlier he had told a supervisor what he had done to assist the farmer. 

If this were the case it would have immediately dismissed any requirement for an investigation, never mind one involving the Dublin-based, crime-fighting NBCI. In any event, the garda told the NBCI detectives what had happened and he brought them to the farmer’s home. 

The bike was lying against a wall outside the home and the NBCI detectives seized it. They also took away the garda’s phone and interviewed him. He was suspended from duty. 

There was no more about the expensive wheels, which, the Irish Examiner understands, were never recovered.

By now, it would have been obvious that a big misunderstanding had somehow taken place. Apart from that, there had been a search warrant obtained from a judge based on information that was not accurate. 

In the highly unlikely event that the matter would ever go to court, this would have been a serious issue which would have been very embarrassing and would have in all likelihood collapsed the trial.

Disciplinary process

As it was, the DPP decided entirely correctly that there was no basis to prosecute the garda. This was notified to the garda in April 2021. His suspension was lifted but he was confined to restricted duties. 

There then began a disciplinary process. This of itself is entirely in keeping with policy. 

A criminal trial is based on guilt being determined “beyond a reasonable doubt”. A disciplinary process deals with the “balance of probabilities” of guilt. 

Just because a garda is not criminally culpable for an infraction does not mean he or she cannot be found to have breached discipline and be liable for sanction. In this case, however, it must have been obvious from early on that a major error, and injustice, had occurred. 

Notwithstanding that, it took nearly three years before the garda was fully cleared. Why it took so long is one of the main issues to arise in this whole controversy.

Previous garda scandals

Over the years, there has been a particular common thread in garda scandals. An initial mess-up within the organisation is followed by a complete failure for those involved, often senior gardaí, to accept their responsibility for the matter. 

For instance, an investigation by GSOC can be slowed down through a lack of prompt co-operation. Equally, an internal investigation or a disciplinary process can be stretched out over a long period. 

During the interim, any senior figure involved might reach the age of retirement and thus wash his or her hands of what occurred.

Equally, where a mess-up has occurred and an officer has been wrongly implicated, the disciplinary process has sometimes dragged out. 

The strain of a long drawn-out process in which a garda’s integrity is under a cloud, coupled with the knowledge that even in the event of being cleared, his or her career will not recover, has at times led to a decision to just retire.

The garda in this case did not retire. 

There is no specific evidence that the disciplinary process at issue here was deliberately drawn out, but neither is there any credible explanation as to why it took so long to clear a man who had obviously been wronged. 

It was reported last week that the garda intends to sue the State over how he was treated. Should such an action ever come to trial it would make for extremely interesting, if not disturbing, evidence.