• There is

COP DESPAIR

Suspended Garda sent suicide note to TD claiming he has ‘no option’ as ‘culture of mistrust’ within cops blasted

McEntee and GRA will meet to discuss why it is taking so long for suspended Gardai to be investigated

• Published: 17:10, 10 Mar 2024
• Updated: 18:01, 10 Mar 2024

A SUSPENDED Garda sent a letter to a TD threatening to kill himself because of the way he is treated by the force, saying his family “are going through hell”.

The distraught officer contacted Fianna Fáil deputy Cathal Crowe, who read details of his plight into the Dail record.

The furious Clare TD then said the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris had created a culture of mistrust and disrespect for the rank-and-file members and it had to stop.

He also cited the case of the Midlands Garda who was suspended for giving an unclaimed bike from his station to a pensioner.

The Garda was later found not guilty by an internal inquiry and he has now been reinstated.

Deputy Crowe told the Dail how he had received a letter from a suspended Garda.

The officer wrote: “We as a family are going through hell. We have no life any more because of what GSOC is doing to our family over nothing.

“We cannot have a smile, a decent conversation, nothing. I cannot take it anymore. I see no option but to take my own life. I am mentally murdered by it all.”

Deputy Crowe urged Justice Minister Helen McEntee to stop the persecution of suspended officers like the Garda hounded for lending a bike to an old man.

He stated: “There is a culture of mistrust , unreasonable discipline and disrespect for the rank and file members that is permeating from the top down.

“It is underpinned and proven by the vindication of the Garda who was suspended for three years for giving an unused bike to an elderly gentleman.

 “This culture is there. The rank and file Gardai are telling us in our constituency offices.”

He added: “This letter bears it out. This is a Garda considering taking his own life. Someone has to intervene.

“A culture has gotten hold of that organisation that needs ministerial involvement. 

“It needs to be dismantled to ensure we have a good Garda force and for the well being of Gardai throughout the country.

“I ask the Minister for Justice and the government to intervene. This man and so many others have to be treated better for the organisation.”

The Garda Representative Association are to meet Minister McEntee on Tuesday to discuss why it is taking so long for suspended Gardai to be investigated.

They are also expected to discuss why the Midlands bike Garda was suspended in the first place.