Pressure on Nóirín ahead of PAC report
TDs to publish verdict on college finance scandal
THE pressure is piling on Nóirín O’Sullivan as a report into financial irregularities in the Garda training college in Templemore is expected to be highly critical of the embattled Garda chief.
The Public Accounts Committee review is expected to say that she failed in her role as accounting officer to inform the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Minister and Department of Justice of the issues once she became aware of their seriousness.
A DÁIL report into the financial irregularities at the Garda training college in Templemore is expected to be highly critical of Nóirín O’Sullivan.
The report is likely to pile further pressure on the embattled commissioner this coming week.
Multiple sources on the Public Accounts Committee have told the Irish Daily Mail that they have signed off on a report into the now possibly fraudulent financial activities in the Garda college. The report will be published on Tuesday.
According to the final draft being circulated among members of the committee, the PAC is expected to take a critical stance in relation to Ms O’Sullivan’s role as Garda Commissioner and accounting officer.
It is expected to say that she failed in her role as accounting officer to inform the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Minister and Department of Justice of the issues once she became aware of their seriousness.
She is expected to be criticised for her ‘failure to inform external bodies that should have been told about what was going on, much sooner’, said one source.
She is also expected to be criticised for not supplying adequate follow-up responses to questions from the committee.
Concern is also expected to be raised around contradictions about when she first became aware of the scandal.
The PAC has been investigating issues such as the leasing out of land by the college, with some of the money being spent on entertaining and retirement gifts.
A report by the head of the Garda’s internal audit unit uncovered multiple bank accounts, a multimillion-euro surplus and investment policies related to the college.
The committee cannot make any findings of fact against individuals but can highlight failures in processes, policies or procedures, and can comment on the offices held by certain individuals.
The committee can make findings on the failing of an office, therefore.
Templemore is only one of several controversies hanging over the Commissioner.
The Mail has already revealed how gardaí have yet to get to the bottom of the breath-test scandal which saw one million breath tests more than were carried out recorded.
There are likely to be further troubles for the Commissioner as the Attorney General is considering whether to allow the release of a letter which was sent to the Commissioner by the force’s head of legal affairs about the crisis in Templemore.
Legal chief Ken Ruane wrote to the Commissioner on July 24, 2015, about irregularities in Templemore with advice. She says she first learned of the scandal three days later at a steering
‘Failure to inform external bodies’
‘An alleged smear campaign’
committee on the topic.
Ms O’Sullivan’s evidence to the committee about her knowledge of the crisis has been contradicted by her own colleagues including Mr Barrett who has written to her asking her to correct the record of the Dáil.
A note sent to the PAC has revealed that she has yet to respond to his request.
In an 88-page dossier sent to the PAC, John Barrett, the Garda head of human resources, wrote: ‘I remain of the view that the written advice sent to the commissioner by Mr Ruane of July 24 in respect of which the Commissioner is claiming legal privilege, would be most especially helpful to your deliberations.
‘I fully accept that the commissioner is perfectly entitled to claim such privilege but I am obliged to note that a different approach has apparently been adopted by the commissioner in respect of legal advice pertinent to the Disclosure Tribunal (regarding an alleged smear campaign against Garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe).
‘I understand that Mr Justice Charleton noted this in his opening remarks and it stands in a peculiar contrast to your work and the public interest which you are seeking to serve.
‘I understand... that the decision as to whether or not the Minister will direct the commissioner in this matter is now with the Attorney General and we all await the considered outcome that legal review.’