POLICE AND OFFICIAL CORRUPTION IN IRELAND

More than 20 families claiming to be the victims of State negligence or corruption will gather today at the nightclub owned by the McBrearty family in Donegal. Frank McBrearty Jnr, who is taking legal action against the State claiming false imprisonment following his arrest on suspicion of murder, says he has received calls from all over the country and believes this will be the beginning of a major movement.

The families meeting today have different stories - relatives who died in car crashes, some players involved in the Morris Tribunal and at least one man who claims to be the victim of a serious miscarriage of justice. All claim, however, to be either victims of negligence or corruption by State agencies, including the gardai [police]. There is also a feeling among many that their concerns have been ignored at the highest level.

Organisers also want to reach out to others who may not be able to attend today's meeting. These include the Rossiter family from Clonmel, whose son died a couple of days after being discovered unconscious in a garda cell and Jackie and Sheila Lyons, whose late son Dean wrongly spent seven months in jail after apparently signing a confession to the murder of two elderly women in north Dublin in 1997.

One key demand, said Mr McBrearty, will be that the new Garda Ombudsman should have the same powers as the one in the North. Mr McBrearty, who confronted Justice Minister Michael McDowell at the McGill Summer School in the Glenties earlier this week, said: "I've been getting calls on a daily basis from people across Ireland who are the victims of corruption. We are going to meet today to decide a plan of action but we will organise a date for a public meeting at the end of August. After that we will organise a public rally in Dublin."

Up to 50 people are expected to gather in the nightclub in Raphoe. A number of those who will attend the meeting have relatives who died in car crashes which, it is claimed, were not properly investigated. Sean Farren, whose daughter Sinead McDaid died in June 2001, said there are serious questions surrounding the case, including an alleged failure to preserve the scene or begin an investigation to find out what caused the crash. Mr Farren blames loose chippings left on the road following roadworks and inadequate signage.

Source


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