In 1976 - nearly 30 years ago - this newspaper published a report about the operation within An Garda Síochána of a unit known as "the heavy gang". The report revealed that this unit regularly beat suspects in custody, to force "confessions" from them, writes Vincent Browne.
It led to a cabinet crisis with Garret FitzGerald, then foreign minister, threatening to resign over the refusal to institute an inquiry into the allegations. Garret had been tipped off by senior gardaí who were concerned over what was going on. One of these was the former presidential candidate, Derek Nally.
The "heavy gang" was involved in the Sallins mail train robbery case, which led to the prosecution of three people - Nicky Kelly, Osgur Breathnach and Brian McNally - all connected with the newly formed Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP).
These three were very badly beaten in Garda custody. They were brought before a District Court judge late one night and formally charged. The judge was startled by their condition.
Then - in a practice that must have been unique - once remanded in custody, they were locked up for the night, not in Mountjoy, but in a Garda cell at the Bridewell, all together.
In the morning, when they were brought to Mountjoy and examined there by the prison doctor, they were found to have a series of injuries. The gardaí claimed the three had beaten up each other when in the cell together the previous night.
It became evident subsequently that in the course of two lengthy trials in the Special Criminal Court, a large number of gardaí gave perjured evidence. Eventually the accused were acquitted and, in the case of Nicky Kelly, pardoned.
By any standards that was a major scandal - and what happened? Nothing. Not a single garda was even disciplined for the crimes committed by many of them in connection with that affair.
At precisely the same time, there was another major scandal within An Garda Síochána. Following the murder of the British ambassador on July 21st, 1976, a motorcyclist's helmet was found near the scene of the explosion.
The helmet was bought to the fingerprint section of An Garda Síochána and examined there by a reputable fingerprint expert, Garda Michael Diggin. He found no finger mark on the helmet.
Subsequently, the helmet was examined by two other members of the fingerprint section, its head, Det Insp Byrne, and a colleague, Det Sgt John Garavin. They found a mark on the helmet and they identified it as that of a known suspect in the case. They drew up a chart showing 12 points of similarity between the finger mark and the suspect's fingerprints.
Later still, Michael Diggin and another colleague, Pat Corless, examined the chart and discovered the identification was entirely false.
This led to conflict within the fingerprint section but when Diggin was able to show that the finger mark found on the helmet by Byrne and Garavin was made by himself (obviously he must have touched the helmet once he had examined it originally), they relented.
What is significant about this affair is that Det Insp Byrne had stated his intention to go into court and swear up to the "identification", and subsequently the head of the Scotland Yard fingerprint section, asked to examine the case, said that what was done in this instance "endangered the science of fingerprinting worldwide", so egregious was the "error".
And what happened? Corless and Diggin were moved sideways and their careers were blighted. Byrne would later be promoted.
There is now overwhelming evidence of corruption, gross negligence, gross incompetence and widespread indiscipline within An Garda Síochána. The suggestion that this is confined to a handful of gardaí presently or formerly attached to the Donegal division is simply not true.
What has been found is a culture of cover-up and concealment, a practice of lies and perjury, a breakdown of discipline across the force, chaotic industrial relations and rank incompetence at leadership level.
What has also been established is that the urgent recommendations of the report produced by the Morris tribunal 11 months ago have been ignored by the leadership of the Garda, by the Department of Justice and the Minister for Justice (sure, there have been "working parties", but no action).
There has been a cancer within An Garda Síochána for a long time and successive governments have gone along with it, in part because it suited them and in part because of fear of taking on the Garda.
And the same fear now obtains, as illustrated by the guff about having "full confidence" in a force that obviously is thoroughly discredited. I am not saying every garda or a majority of gardaí are thoroughly discredited; I am saying the force as an institution is discredited (or at least would be if the public had an appreciation of what the Morris tribunal has revealed). And we had better face up to it, as Mr Justice Frederick Morris has urged.