A garda who was cleared of assaulting three protesters during an anti-globalisation protest on May Day in 2002 has lost his legal bid to stop the Garda Complaints Board from dealing with a complaint against him.
The Supreme Court yesterday dismissed an appeal by Garda Donal Corcoran against an earlier High Court refusal to stop the board proceeding with a complaint that he had failed to wear any identification on his uniform during the May Day riots.
Garda Corcoran, of Churchtown, Dublin, was cleared by a jury at the Circuit Criminal Court in November 2004 of assaulting two men and a woman during the "Reclaim the Streets" rally in Dublin city centre on May Day, 2002.
The Garda Complaints Board subsequently received a complaint against Garda Corcoran which alleged he had failed to wear identification.
Garda Corcoran had claimed in the High Court that a press release issued by the complaints board, an RTÉ radio interview with the board's chairman Gordon Holmes, and a press conference held by the board showed the board was objectively biased and that he would not get a fair trial of the complaint against him.
Yesterday Mr Justice Brian McCracken, presiding over a three-judge Supreme Court, said it was not sufficient that the person concerned apprehends that there would be bias. It was necessary that such apprehension would be held by a reasonable person in the same position.
The judge said the statements made in the press release and by the board chairman were general statements of public concern.
He did not think that a reasonable person in Garda Corcoran's shoes could consider there was bias against him personally as a result. Garda Corcoran was not named in any way either directly or by implication in any of the statements.
In those circumstances, the court dismissed the appeal.