Garda whistleblowers break silence as RTÉ Investigates probes firearms security failings
Garda whistleblowers are to speak publicly about concerns from inside the force in a major new RTÉ Investigates documentary examining whether promised reforms following decades of policing scandals have delivered meaningful change.
The programme, RTÉ Investigates: The Gardaí – Full Disclosure, will be broadcast on Wednesday night and includes revelations about the security and management of firearms, including concerns that a sawn-off pump-action shotgun may have been stolen from Kildare Garda Station and returned to criminal hands.
One Garda whistleblower tells RTÉ Investigates: “I feel now I need to speak up and I am of the view that this all has to stop.”
Three decades of policing scandals
The documentary looks back across three decades in which Irish policing has faced a series of controversies, investigations and demands for reform.
The Morris Tribunal, established to investigate allegations concerning Gardaí in County Donegal, famously warned of a “code of silence” that could shield wrongdoing.
Further controversy followed with the Garda whistleblower crisis and the subsequent Disclosures Tribunal, while reforms were promised in response to concerns raised about policing practices and the treatment of those who spoke out.
The new RTÉ investigation asks whether those reforms have gone far enough, with journalist Rita O’Reilly hearing directly from Garda whistleblowers about their experiences and concerns from within the organisation.
Shotgun may have returned to criminal hands
Among the revelations connected to Wednesday night’s programme is a Garda belief that a sawn-off pump-action shotgun may have found its way back into criminal hands after potentially being stolen from Gardaí in Kildare.
According to information released ahead of the documentary, Gardaí subsequently established that keys to a locked understairs cupboard where weapons were held were readily accessible to Garda officers — or anyone else who had access to the station — with no controls in place.
Internal findings concerning weaknesses in weapons control and management at Kildare Garda Station are also said to mirror wider concerns previously expressed about the handling of firearms and ammunition at Garda headquarters.
Audit found discrepancies in weapons records
Hundreds of guns and other weapons, together with more than one million rounds of ammunition accumulated over a period of years, had been stored in a shipping container at Garda headquarters.
RTÉ Investigates says Wednesday’s documentary will reveal findings from a separate audit of the contents of that container, which identified significant disparities between weapons physically present and information recorded on the Garda PULSE computer system.
Internal reports relating to headquarters also identified failings in record-keeping, storage and security within the wider Garda Firearms Stores, which holds weapons and ammunition for the force.
The findings will form part of the wider examination by RTÉ Investigates of accountability, internal systems and the experiences of Garda whistleblowers who have chosen to speak out.
Further details relating to the Kildare firearms story can be read in RTÉ’s report.
When and where to watch
RTÉ Investigates: The Gardaí – Full Disclosure will be broadcast on RTÉ One at 9.35pm on Wednesday 16 September and will also be available on RTÉ Player.
The programme will return to a question that has followed successive inquiries and controversies surrounding Irish policing: after years of investigations, whistleblower disclosures and promises of reform, how much has really changed inside the Gardaí?
