The death of a 22-year-old man from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a Carlow shopping centre earlier this month was "an extraordinary event", the Garda Commissioner has said.
Drew Harris told the Oireachtas Justice Committee that Fiosrú, the Office of the Police Ombudsman, has examined an investigation file into the incident and found no issue in relation to garda use of a controlled delivery in relation to alleged firearms offences.
Mr Harris said he was unable to discuss what Labour TD Alan Kelly said was a controlled delivery in the case of Evan Fitzgerald, the 22-year-old who was facing firearms charges but died from a self-inflicted gunshot injury at a shopping centre in Carlow.
However, Mr Harris told Mr Kelly that he was also unable to discuss the provenance of the guns, where they came from and whether or not gardaí engaged in a controlled delivery, because two other people were before the courts.
Mr Kelly told the committee that he has "serious concerns" that undercover gardaí met and arrested Mr Fitzgerald and two others who were subsequently changed with alleged firearms offences.
Senator Michael McDowell also asked if gardaí had met Mr Fitzgerald prior to arranging the controlled delivery.
The Commissioner said that controlled deliveries were used around drugs and firearms.
He said the case of Mr Fitzgerald had been examined since his death on 1 June and that he was compliant in his interactions with the gardaí and with his bail conditions.
"We didn't anticipate the events of 1 June," the Commissioner said.
"It was an extraordinary event."
Mr Kelly also raised the issue of defective holsters and held up a holster in the committee.
The commissioner told him that he was "very content" with the investigation in the case of the murder of the late Garda Colm Horkan and the analysis of his holster.
He also said he could not comment in relation to a second incident at the Israeli Ambassador’s residence, as that was a matter of civil litigation.
Concerns on guns and ammunition storage, missing fingerprints
Mr Kelly also raised questions about how gardaí stored guns and ammunition which he says were subsequently destroyed at a cost of €160,000, and about a sawnoff shot gun which had been seized by gardaí but ended up back in the hands of "hardened criminals."
Deputy Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said they had spent a considerable amount of time on the disposal of a container which contained defective Garda ammunition for their own firearms.
He said they needed specific licences to move it out of the country because there is no where in Ireland to destroy it.
He said they had to get it done in Germany and that licences were needed to get through all those countries, but that the container had moved yesterday and was in port today.
The Commissioner said they had been unable to establish how a sawn off shot gun, which had been seized in April 2010, had ended up back on the streets in the hands of criminals and was seized again in August 2023.
He also said that three months later in November, two kilos of cannabis were stolen form a garda station and they had since updated and improved their evidence management system.
Deputy Kelly also asked the Garda Commissioner about 17,000 "livescan fingerprints" which he says were lost in July 2021.
Mr Harris said the 17,000 fingerprints "are of a certain vintage" and they now "have to go through them and that will happen."
Far right 'huge concern' for gardaí, committee told
Justin Kelly also told the committee that the far right is "a huge concern" and there are dedicated officers in the Special Detective Unit, its anti terrorist branch, focused on these groups and individuals.
He told Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon that gardaí target people involved in violent political extremism in two ways, locally and nationally.
He said regional officers have been given technology and training to look at a protest and its potential participants in advance and identify "problematic areas".
He also said that the Garda National Security and Intelligence Bureau were focused on the national groups, some of which have international connections.
Mr Gannon told the Garda Commissioner that he was concerned about far-right mobilisation and intimidation, including outside libraries and Dáil Éireann and wanted to see the leaders, those who incite the violence, being prosecuted.
He also highlighted the problems of drug dealing and intimidation in Dublin’s north inner city and named three locations, including Mountjoy Square and Liberty Park as drug-dealing locations.
Fianna Fáil Senator Robbie Gallagher raised concerns about the absence of a garda presence in Cavan and Monaghan.
He invited Mr Harris and his two deputies to his area and offered to buy them "a pint or a coffee" for every garda they would see on patrol.
The Commissioner defended the operating policing model, which Mr Gallagher said was "reactive rather than proactive".
The senator said that Drogheda and Dundalk were more prominent in the region and Cavan and Monaghan suffer from the lack of a policing service.
Plans to increase new garda recruits to 1,000 per year
Earlier, Drew Harris said An Garda Síochána is planning to increase the number of new garda recruits to 1,000 every year.
Mr Harris told the Oireachtas Justice Committee it are working with the Office of Public Works to increase the capacity of the Garda College to accommodate 250 new recruits.
He said they want to run two recruitment competitions, with four intakes of two hundred and fifty each, to the Garda College in Templemore every year.
He also said the gardaí are currently in discussions with other third-level institutions regarding recruit garda training and is committed to meeting the Government's target of 5,000 new gardaí over the next five years.
The figure of 1,000 new gardaí is unlikely to be met this year at current recruitment rates.
The Commissioner also rejected claims that the level of resignations from An Garda Síochána is high, pointing to the fact that 140 of 14,000 resigned, a ratio of 1% and 29 fewer than the year before.
The figure is lower than the UK and some police forces, he says, have a resignation rate of 10%
He also said the recent loss of the roads policing Garda Kevin Flatley who died in the line of duty serves "as a stark reminder of the risks gardaí face" and puts "into sharp focus the dangers that exist on our roads today."
Last year, one driver was arrested every hour of every day for driving under the influence of drink or drugs and there was a 14% increase in the number of Fixed Charge Notices and penalty points for mobile phones.
Seventy people have died on the roads so far this year, five less than last year, a reduction which the Commissioner points out "is no consolation for the bereaved families."
