Garda Ombudsman

chem

Just wondering. Has anyone tried the route of reporting a super to the Garda Ombudsman for not issuing a licence?

Can it be seen as misbehaviour on the supers half?

Im thinking,, after the last high court ruling, about its not the type of gun, but the type of person thats licenced.

Sparks

It can't be seen as misbehaviour, because the Super is the persona designata. He would have to openly knowingly flout the law just to get started on that road.

meathstevie

As Sparks said : the granting or not granting of a licence is entirely his/her decision based on legislation as it is, the only challenge open to it is the courts. Otherwise I don't see many grounds for bringing the decision to the attention of the ombudsman. The only case I can think of where the Ombudsman might come in to the equasion is when a super would have knowingly disregarded law and procedure while dealing with an application.

dresden8

But....

If it has been established by the courts that the calibre of firearm is not relevant, you are in effect licensing the shooter, not the gun, a wilful disregard of that decision by the Super is surely bang out of order and actionable by the ombudsman or senior management in the Gardai.

Sparks

Dresden, you're talking about proving intent. That's bloody hard to do (which is why most murders are charged as manslaughters rather than as murder).

chem

But if the super keeps using the mantras:

military caliber
Not target caliber
Looks nasty
ETC...............................

All have been challanged to high court level and rulings made against the supers no? So if they keep using the same reasons is it not showing wilful disregard for high court rulings?

Sparks

chem wrote: »

But if the super keeps using the mantras:
military caliber
Not target caliber
Looks nasty
ETC...............................
All have been challanged to high court level and rulings made against the supers no? So if they keep using the same reasons is it not showing wilful disregard for high court rulings?

You could argue that chem; but the Ombudsman is there for cases where the Gardai are committing serious crimes, where death has happened in custody, where the Gardai have discharged firearms, that level of problem. A super being reluctant to issue a licence would be rather far down the pecking order for the Ombudsman and since they have a limited set of resources, odds are you'd never see a result from them; and that the case would be sent back to the Gardai for internal investigation.

The Inspectorate might be a more fruitful path to pursue, since it's charged with ensuring the Gardai operate efficiently according to best international practise; but the Inspectorate cannot take complaints against individual Gardai, and if 95%+ of all licences are granted without problems, it's not likely they'd charge in, especially not when the FCP is addressing the problem from a less confrontational approach.

dresden8

Sparks wrote: »

not when the FCP is addressing the problem from a less confrontational approach.

Agreed. But if and when after this process they are clearly acting in contravention of court judgements, somebody is going to have to kick their arses. You would hope the Attorney General's office would step in and say "we're not wasting our time and money on this cr@p" or senior Garda management would do the same, or the Minister would tell them to get their act together.