JUDGMENT will be given early next week on whether a Cyprus based garda should be brought home, pending the hearing of his action against the Garda Commissioner, the High Court ruled yesterday.
The Commissioner's decision to repatriate Garda Michael Fitzpatrick followed an alleged remark to the Minister for Defence, Mr Barrett, at a drinks reception in Nicosia in March.
On Good Friday, Garda Fitzpatrick was granted a temporary injunction in the High Court restraining the Commissioner from repatriating him from Cyprus to his station at Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan.
Yesterday, an application by the garda seeking an interlocutory injunction until the main hearing of the case continued before Mr Justice Kelly. The Commissioner also made an application to have the order vacated.
Mr Pat O'Connell, counsel for Garda Fitzpatrick, said that if the interlocutory injunction was not granted, his client would be brought home and this would have a grave effect on his career.
He would, in effect, be returned home in disgrace before the court had determined the matter. It would have a monumental effect and place his career in the Garda Siochana in severe jeopardy.
The alleged incident was at a social occasion after a parade where there was little regard for rank or station. It was a drinks party and an informal affair where people mixed and spoke freely. The remark that was passed was in that context. It was not an official function.
Mr O'Connell said that Garda Fitzpatrick had continued to do his duty in Cyprus even at the height of the trouble in the summer when there were fatalities. There had been no difficulty whatsoever and he continued to serve and do his duty in an admirable way.
Mr Michael Cush, counsel for the Commissioner, said this was not a disciplinary matter and the garda had been found by the Commissioner to be "temperamentally unsuitable".