Garda-held decommissioned weapons used to catch people trying to import firearms
In response to queries from the Irish Examiner, Garda HQ detailed two court cases where gardaí substituted illegal firearms with Garda-held weapons that were made safe, in controlled deliveries to suspects who were subsequently convicted of buying weapons.
Garda HQ also said the decision to prosecute Evan Fitzgerald with serious firearms offences after a controlled delivery was made following an 'independent evaluation' by the DPP of all the evidence.
Labour Party TD Alan Kelly and Senator Michael McDowell, former justice minister and attorney general, have expressed grave concerns at the controlled delivery in the case of Mr Fitzgerald and two co-accused and questioned the arrest and prosecution of a "vulnerable" man.
Labour Party TD Alan Kelly expressed grave concern at the controlled delivery in the case of Evan Fitzgerald and two co-accused. Picture: Gareth Chaney Collins
While on bail, the 22-year-old carried out a public suicide at a Carlow shopping centre on June 1 using a firearm he had stolen.
He had caused panic among shoppers, including children, when he fired his shotgun into the air.
Gardaí believe he had no intention to harm anyone, but said that firing a loaded gun in public, and having flammable liquid in a bottle which he was trying to light, posed inherent dangers to other people, even if inadvertent or accidental.
Mr Kelly alleged that there was a 'domino impact' from the controlled delivery in Mr Fitzgerald taking his own life, while Mr McDowell claimed this outcome could have been avoided if 'diversion rather than entrapment and prosecution' was employed by gardaí against people he described as three 'naive young men'.
One of the two other men has pleaded guilty to charges while the third person has yet to enter a plea.
In its statement, Garda HQ detailed two firearms and three drug trafficking court cases where controlled deliveries were used by gardaí.
Senator Michael McDowell claimed the outcome could have been avoided if 'diversion rather than entrapment and prosecution' was employed by gardaí against people he described as three 'naive young men'. Picture: Sam Boal
It said gardaí were not making direct comparisons between the two firearms cases and Mr Fitzgerald and his co-accused.
In the two previous cases, the suspects were involved in drug dealing or serious organised crime, whereas gardaí have told the court that Mr Fitzgerald and the co-accused were not involved in organised crime and that the guns were intended for target shooting in the woods.
Gardaí told the courts that Mr Fitzgerald had a 'fascination' with firearms.
The Garda statement said controlled deliveries are recognised as legitimate operational techniques by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and that Irish courts had accepted their use in at least two convictions.
The two cases are:
May 12, 2016 — undercover gardaí took the place of a firearms supplier after intelligence showed that Ahmad Ayadi, from Rathfarnham, Dublin, was trying to source firearms illegally. The officers obtained a firearm, that had been made safe, from Garda Ballistics, which Ayadi bought. He pleaded guilty on July 31, 2017;
April 20, 2007 — two men were arrested in possession of firearms at the IBIS Hotel at Glanmire, Cork, after a controlled delivery of rocket launchers and weapons, supplied by Garda Ballistics after being made safe, by undercover officers. They pleaded guilty in 2008.
The statement said it was up to a coroner to 'independently' determine the circumstances that led to Mr Fitzgerald's death and cited suicide guidelines from the Samaritans that speculation on causes can 'oversimply' an extremely complex issue.
On Tuesday, Europol, the EU police agency, raised concerns at a growing trend of young men, including juveniles, who have 'personal struggles' or mental health issues and a 'fascination for weapons and explosives'.
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