A trial at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court has heard that senior gardaí have the authority to cancel Fixed Charge Penalty Notices (FCPNs) in specific circumstances.
Four serving gardaí and a retired superintendent, Mr Edmund “Eamon” O’Neill, Sergeants Ms Michelle Leahy and Ms Anne-Marie Hassett, and Gardaí Mr Tom McGlinchey and Mr Colm Geary, have pleaded not guilty to 39 counts of allegedly engaging in conduct “tending and intending to pervert the course of justice”. The charges arise from a Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI) inquiry into alleged interventions in potential or pending road traffic prosecutions.
Prosecution witness Sgt Mr Kevin McCahey, formerly of the FCPN Enforcement Unit in Thurles, testified that he routinely followed instructions during garda investigations and saw nothing improper in GNBCI requests for FCPN information. Under questioning, he said it was not unusual for members of the public to seek advice from local gardaí after receiving a notice, but added he would recuse himself from handling a query involving someone he personally knew due to a “perceived conflict of interest”. He stated he would refuse any “improper instructions”, including a request to alter a notice.
Superintendent Ms Blaithin Moran of the Garda Roads Policing Bureau told the court she regularly worked with the FCPN Cancelling Authority in Thurles, where she had legitimately cancelled notices in exceptional cases, such as emergency responses by medical professionals or incidents involving sudden death. She said travelling to routine medical appointments or funerals would not qualify. Discretion, she noted, is applied “on a case-by-case basis”.
The case, before Judge Mr Roderick Maguire and a jury of 12, is expected to run until Christmas.
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