The chairman of the Garda Complaints Board has said there has been another case where investigating gardaí omitted evidence from an investigation into alleged Garda misconduct in a file forwarded to the board.
Speaking at the launch of the board's annual report, its chairman, Gordon Holmes, said it was the second such incident the board had become aware of since last year and that the Garda authorities had now accepted such incidents were totally unacceptable.
The board received nearly 1,200 complaints against gardaí from the general public - 650 of which were deemed admissible - and referred 23 cases involving serious allegations for a full complaints tribunal investigation.
No garda was dismissed as a result of the 25 cases finalised last year by the complaints tribunal. Six were cautioned or reprimanded, five had a temporary reduction in pay, and five were struck out after the gardaí involved were cleared of being in breach of discipline. Three were struck out because they had retired and three were withdrawn by the complainant.
In one case where a member of the force was alleged to have threatened to "do" a member of the public, the board was unable to pursue its inquiries as the garda had retired.
In the annual report Mr Holmes raised the issue of the omission of evidence in files presented to the complaints board by An Garda Síochána for the second year running.
Last year it was reported that a witness statement from the current Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, relating to an alleged incident of Garda brutality in 2000 had been omitted from an investigation file sent to the board.
Mr Holmes said it had been hoped the incident would never be repeated but said that last year the board became aware of a similar incident with another file and called in the investigating gardaí to raise concerns about the issue.
In the first case he said that Garda authorities were originally inclined to agree with the investigating officer that it was acceptable to omit statements if they were deemed to be corroborative.
Mr Holmes said the Garda Commissioner now accepted that all material on files relating to garda complaints being investigated by the complaints board should be forwarded to it.
However, Mr Holmes also said that up to a fifth of all complaints were being made following late night public order incidents where gardaí were called.
He said that in many of these cases members of the public were blaming gardaí in the wrong for injuries they received during rows but were too drunk to remember.
In his report Mr Holmes said the board saw "no evidence that the enforcement of licensing laws in general" involved such treatment.
"It continues to be upsetting to see complaints coming from parents of underage people who, by any standard, were there worse for wear through drink at the time of the incident of which they complained," he stated.