The position of Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy must come into question following his comments on the investigation into the death of Donegal cattle dealer Richie Barron, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) said today.
Reacting to the second report from the Morris tribunal, which condemned the force for its handling of the inquiry in to the 1996 death, ICCL director Aisling Reidy has written to the Minister for Justice Michael McDowell calling for the upcoming Garda Síochána Bill to be extensively amended.
Justice Frederick Morris's report published yesterday found senior members of the force in Donegal were responsible for an investigation that was "prejudiced and utterly negligent".
He also found that gardaí of lower rank had attempted to frame people for the murder of Mr Barron despite there being a lack of evidence pointing to a murder having taken place.
Previous to the Morris findings, Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy said he was satisfied the Barron investigation had been carried out "in an efficient and thorough manner".
In a submission to the Morris Tribunal reported in the Sunday Business Postin May, Mr Conroy said: "Mistakes have coloured the entire investigation and raised at most a suspicion of wrongdoing and at least a gloss of ineptitude and carelessness over the investigation.
"It is submitted that such views are not justified when taken in the whole."
Ms Reidy today compared the commissioner's submission with Mr Morris's finding that investigation was "negligent in the highest degree".
"Whether the commissioner was defending the Garda, irrespective of the incompetence of the inquiry, or he sincerely believed the inquiry to be competent, [it] calls into question his judgement and ultimately his position," Ms Reidy said.
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte, speaking in the Dáil this afternoon was also concerned by the remarks.
"I cannot understand why he said, as recently as three weeks ago, that the inquiry into the death of Mr Richie Barron was thorough and efficient. The House should be profoundly disturbed by remarks of that nature," he said.
In a statement issued through the Garda Press Office this afternoon, Commissioner Conroy said the comments should not be attributed to him.
"The Commissioner wishes to point out that this aspect of the submission reflects the views of the officers of An Garda Síochána involved in the investigation at the time," the statement said.
He went on to say that he is considering the adverse findings in relation members of the force in Donegal and said he is "committed to implementing" Mr Justice Morris's recommendations.
The statement also said the Commissioner "shares the concerns expressed in the report relating to issues concerning complaints from the public and the requirement of members of An Garda Siochána to account for their actions". He said welcomed the provisions contained in the Garda Siochána Bill in this regard and supports their early implementation.
But the ICCL's Ms Reidy said the Morris report "is not simply about a handful of corrupt, lying, abusive Garda officers, it is a damming indictment of the structure, management and the ethos of impunity instilled by senior management within sections of the Garda".
"These findings are not about 'rotten apples' but about systematic failings which must be addressed," Ms Reidy said.
She claimed the Minister for Justice's reform proposals in Garda Síochána Bill were "minor modifications".
She said an independent Garda ombudsman must be created rather than Mr McDowell's proposal for a less powerful Garda commission for the investigation of complaints by members of the public against the force.
She also said the Minister should immediately order the McBrearty family receive their costs for their legal representation before the Morris tribunal.
Frank McBrearty jnr's father, Frank snr, claims he and members of his extended family were subjected to harassment and intimidation by gardaí during the Barron investigation and for some years after.
Mr Barron died in October 1996 on a country road near Raphoe, Co Donegal, in an apparent hit-and-run. Frank McBrearty jnr and his cousin, Mark McConnell, were arrested in connection with the death which gardaí treated as murder. The Morris tribunal found a statement from an informer implicating the pair was coerced by gardaí.