O'Toole death inquiry 'a must' for garda watchdog
THE tragic death of Derek O'Toole will now have to be one of the first cases to be considered for investigation by the new independent garda ombudsman.
The Garda Ombudsman Commission was officially asked by Labour last night to investigate the controversial case, as soon as it opens for business.
Mr O'Toole (24) died after a car driven by trainee garda Damien Carey ran over him as he lay on the road in Lucan in the early hours of Sunday, March 4. Three other trainee gardai were also in the car. The gardai are under pressure to release the full facts behind the investigation.
And the gardai are now thought to be preparing a detailed statement to be released in the coming days.
Conflicting accounts of the handling of the case have emerged but the gardai insist the investigation was conducted transparently.
Mr Carey was sent to a station 14km from the scene of the accident to be breathalysed. And it was reported that the garda file into the case says Mr Carey was "released into the custody of his uncle", Inspector Kevin Carey. As a result of the request from Labour, the Ombudsman will have to at least examine whether the case merits investigation.
Due to the significant amount of publicity now surrounding the death, it may become one of the first investigations by the Ombudsman when it becomes operational in May.
Labour Seanad spokesperson on justice Joanna Tuffy called for the Ombudsman's investigation "given the serious public concerns about the circumstances of Mr O'Toole's death and its immediate aftermath".
The Labour candidate for Dublin Mid-West, which includes the Lucan area, said she believed "the public interest would be served" if the Ombudsman held an investigation.
She said a number of issues have been raised about the garda investigation, which she believed merited further inquiry.
If the Ombudsman was up and running already, it would almost certainly have been involved in the Derek O'Toole case.
Under its legislation, an investigation is automatically triggered by the "death or serious injury due to the conduct of a garda", whether the garda is on or off duty.
The Commission said it had not yet received the request from Labour.
The Senator cited three reasons for demanding the investigation:
* Firstly, newspapers carried reports that Mr O'Toole was "known to the gardai" - a form of shorthand used by the gardai to indicate that somebody has a criminal record. Mr O'Toole had no criminal record and courageously fought serious health problems.
* Secondly, the O'Toole family allege they were never told by investigating officers that the car involved was driven by a member of the force.
* Thirdly, the car driver being taken to a garda station 14km from the incident before being breathalysed and being released into the custody of his uncle, a Garda Inspector.
"I am not making any allegations against either the driver of the car or against any of the officers involved in the investigation. However, I believe that there are serious publicconcerns about this incident," Senator Tuffy said.
Labour announced the move, even though the party's justice spokesperson Brendan Howlin said the day before he did not think the case merited an investigation by the Garda Ombudsman.
- Fionnan Sheahan
