A garda has slammed the “very unfair” suspension process in the force and said: “You’re guilty until you’re proven innocent.”
Liam Hennessy of the Garda Representative Association says there is a lack of transparency in the process. He claimed members are being left in limbo for 18 months at minimum in most cases as their mental health suffers.
Eight members are currently suspended in Meath, the division which Mr Hennessy represents in the GRA, while that figure is more than 100 nationwide. Slane-stationed Garda Hennessy told the Irish Mirror: “Suspensions are taking far too long.
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“On average any member suspended can expect to be out for at least 18 months realistically, at a minimum. There’s no appeals process for the suspension or the time delays that come.
"The ironic thing is often people are being investigated on time delays on investigation files by people who are not subject to the same time delays on the investigation into them.
“The investigation into suspended members is taking infinitely longer than the time delays they are being investigated for.”
Mr Hennessy claimed the decision to suspend members is taken too lightly. And he alleged that officers are not being given the opportunity to explain their own side of the story. He told us: “They’re guilty until they’re proven innocent. The decision to suspend these members is being taken on the word of one person to another in most cases.
“And there’s not a balanced view in the decision making process. Often members could be suspended and not be consulted or asked for their version of events for the first six months.”
At last week’s GRA conference in Co Mayo, Mr Hennessy called on the Garda Commissioner to carry out a review of the suspension policy of members in conjunction with the other associations.
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