A detective garda has taken a High Court case aimed at halting internal disciplinary proceedings brought against him after a Garda Credit Union made a complaint relating to his adjudication in the UK as a bankrupt.
Det Garda Gerard Ryan, a member of the Special Detective Unit, based at Harcourt Square, Dublin, has sued over the Garda Commissioner’s decision to establish a three-person board of inquiry into alleged breaches of discipline by the detective.
Det Garda Ryan, represented by Breffni Gordon, claims the disciplinary proceedings are flawed and wholly inappropriate and have been instituted for an improper purpose and should be set aside.
The disciplinary proceedings arose after St Raphael’s Garda Credit Union Ltd initiated High Court proceedings in August 2012 against the detective seeking judgment for some €324,000 allegedly owed. Those proceedings were served on him in January 2013.
Bankrupt
Some months earlier, in November 2012, he was adjudicated bankrupt by Kingston-upon Thames Court in England. He emerged from that English bankruptcy some 12 months later.
It is claimed, at a date unknown, lawyers for the credit union made a complaint to the commissioner in relation to the bankruptcy.
In May 2015, the commissioner established a board of inquiry into alleged breaches of Garda discipline by Det Garda Ryan.
It is alleged he engaged in discreditable conduct and neglect of duty by allegedly failing to notify the Garda authorities about the High Court action against him by the credit union. It is also claimed he provided false information to the English insolvency court to support his application for bankruptcy which, it is alleged, he knew to be false and misleading.
It is also alleged, when applying for special leave from the Garda force, he gave false and misleading information to another garda to the effect his father was ill and needed help to run the family business.
The board of inquiry convened in September 2015.
Following rejection of various submissions advanced by his lawyers about the process, Det Garda Ryan believes he will not get a fair hearing from the board.
In his High Court judicial review, he is seeking orders halting the disciplinary proceedings on grounds including they fall outside the scope of Garda discipline regulations and amount to abuse of process.
Permission to bring the proceedings was granted, on an ex-parte basis, by Mr Justice Richard Humphreys who adjourned the matter to next month.