Head of Garda Human Resources John Barrett has written to the Policing Authority, which oversees promotions in the force, asking if a bullying complaint against a senior garda could have been suppressed to conceal it from the Authority.
According to documents seen by RTÉ’s This Week, Mr Barrett wrote to the authority's CEO Helen Hall on 13 October to inform her that he had now taken responsibility over the case of Garda Nicky Keogh, a prominent whistleblower.
Garda Keogh is a decorated garda who has made serious allegations of criminality within the force - including collusion with a midlands drugs gang.
Garda Keogh also made a bullying and harassment claim in March of this year - but his solicitor recently raised questions about why his client had no idea whether it was being investigated.
One of the senior gardaí who Garda Keogh named in his bullying complaint had also applied for promotion, which is overseen by the Policing Authority independently of the force.
In his letter on 13 October, Mr Barrett asked the CEO of the Policing Authority if she had any knowledge about whether a bullying investigation could have been "lost" or delayed, in order to permit the senior garda who was accused of bullying from having to answer questions when going through a promotions process overseen by the authority.
If an investigation was ongoing and a disciplinary case open, then the senior garda would have to provide this information to the authority during the promotions process.
However, if this investigation did not happen for any reason then the senior garda could avoid dealing with the matter.
Garda Keogh's solicitor John Gerard Cullen has written to senior management in the force and the Policing Authority in recent weeks, asking why there has been no obvious development in the bullying and harassment case.
It is understood that Garda Keogh has not made a specific allegation, but his solicitor had raised the question about whether it could occur that a bullying investigation could have been delayed, key files lost, or suppressed in order to conceal this information from the authority, in the case of a preferred officer.
In his letter, Mr Barrett told the Authority that he was repeating this question, which had been addressed to him by Garda Keogh.
"I thought it best to draw the correspondence to your specific attention and to restate the question raised," Mr Barrett said in his letter.
Mr Barrett told the Authority that he wanted them to send him any reply they may have to this question, given that he was now taking responsibility for dealing with Garda Keogh's case.
In other correspondence seen by RTÉ, Mr Barrett also told Garda Keogh's solicitor that he would be assembling a review team to examine the many outstanding issues relating to his initial claim of criminal wrongdoing, and he gave a commitment that Garda Keogh's pay would not be negatively affected, despite the solicitor's concerns to that affect.
