Report on torture here is damning
Gardai face string of allegations of physical abuse of people in custody
The Gardai are facing further serious allegations of ill-treatment of persons in custody according to a top-level report that was given to Garda management and the Government six months ago -- and which is now due to be published.
The report has been drawn up by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) following a 12-day visit here last October and the inspection of nine Garda stations, picked at random, five prisons, St Patrick's Institution for Young Offenders and the Central Mental Hospital.
The Committee's report was completed and delivered to Government in March. A spokeswoman would not comment on the contents of the report and said that the Irish Government has chosen to defer publication until it provides its own response. She said that this was normal practice for Ireland, though countries could choose to publish the report on delivery.
A spokesman for the Garda said that there was "no response" at present about the report but that it would be announced by way of press release by the Commissioner. A spokesman for the Department of Justice said the report would be made public "shortly".
However, in preparation for the report's publication, all senior gardai were told last week to warn subordinates that ill-treatment of prisoners would be punished.
The memo from Assistant Commissioner Nacie Rice, head of Crime and Security, said: "Following on its fourth visit to Ireland, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture or Degrading Treatment or Punishment issued its report.
"Attention is drawn to paragraph 18 of the report which states as follows: 'In light of the information at its disposal, the CPT recommends that senior police officers remind their subordinates that the ill-treatment of detained persons is not acceptable and will be the subject of severe sanctions'."
Assistant Commissioner Rice added: "Chief superintendents, superintendents and acting district officers will ensure that this recommendation is now complied with and that its contents be brought to the notice of all personnel."
According to senior sources, the four-member inspection team were told by a number of people that they had been physically attacked while in Garda custody.
Similar findings were made in the Committee's previous inspection in 2002.
In its 2002 report, the Committee heavily criticised the Garda Complaints Board and urged the Government to introduce a new, more effective complaints system and a Garda inspectorate as a matter of urgency. Following the report and, in the wake of the Donegal scandal, the Government introduced the Garda Ombudsman and Garda Independent Inspectorate.
Figures released last week by the Ombudsman show that, since it was set up on May 9 last, it has received a total of 1,136 complaints from members of the public about their treatment at the hands of gardai.
More than half of these complaints were inadmissible, deemed vexatious or of relatively minor nature, but no less than 508 of the complaints are currently under investigation.
Of these, 179 are being investigated on the grounds that a possible serious criminal offence may have been committed.
A spokeswoman for the Ombudsman said that one death in custody, that of Terence Wheelock who died in Store Street garda station in June 2005, is being investigated.
Since that death, another 29-year-old student at NUI Maynooth, Stephen Sheridan, died in Naas garda station in February this year.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has been calling on the Department of Justice to authorise publication of the report since May.
ICCL director, Mark Kelly said the department received the CPT report in March this year but were choosing to wait the maximum length of time given by the Committee -- six months -- before agreeing to its publication.
