http://www.irishexaminer.com/breaking/story.asp?j=204219678&p=zx4zzx384&n=204220438
Garda HQ arranged to bug station, tribunal told
13/12/2006 - 19:49:12
Garda headquarters dispatched a sergeant to bug a
rural station at the centre of a web of
corruption within the force, it was claimed tonight.
Former officer Martin Leonard told the Morris
Tribunal today that two colleagues told him about
the covert recording equipment being set up in a
Donegal garda station 10 years ago.
Eight members of the McBrearty family from Raphoe
were interrogated at Letterkenny station during a
botched murder investigation in December 1996.
They were all later found innocent of any
involvement in the death of cattle dealer Richie
Barron who had died in a hit-and-run collision.
Mr Leonard said Garda Tina Fowley and Sergeant
Brendan Roache told him a few months after the
wrongful arrests that a Sergeant Joseph Costello
had been brought down from Dublin to bug rooms in the station.
Sgt Costello – who spent several days in Donegal
during the murder probe – was from the Garda
Technical Bureau at the forceÂ’s headquarters in DublinÂ’s Phoenix Park.
Tribunal barrister Paul McDermott asked the
ex-officer, who was dismissed last year, if there
was a deliberate attempt to bug conversations between the family.
“I had no knowledge of it. I wasn’t aware of it
on the day, that’s for sure,” he said.
“It was discussed afterwards. Tina Fowley was the
one I heard on about it, that she had prepared
that particular room (in the Garda station) you are on about.”
Asked what she told him, Mr Leonard said: “That
he (Sgt Costello) was brought down and that the
room was set up to listen to visitors.”
He added: “My opinion is she was well aware that
room was bugged for the purpose of the visitors.”
Mr Leonard insisted he wasnÂ’t astonished by the claims from his colleagues.
“Nothing was surprising me at this stage, because
of what happened in December 1996,” he said.
Under questioning, he said he believed top chiefs
within the force were fully aware of the alleged bugging.
“Surely to God she wasn’t telling me and
management didn’t know,” he said. “At that stage, the management had to know.”
Although there was no designated room in the
station where solicitors could meet with their
clients, Mr Leonard believed privileged conversations were not spied on.
“There was no question about the solicitors,” he said.
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Received on Sat Mar 02 2024 - 00:57:27 CST