A confidential Garda whistleblower file about a stolen Winchester pump-action shotgun that went missing from Garda custody and ended up in criminal hands a second time was marked for closure without the knowledge or consent of personnel handling it in the Garda Whistleblowers' Office.
In an RTÉ Investigates documentary to be broadcast on Wednesday night, Rose Sweeney, a senior serving civilian staff member, who is a former protected disclosure manager of An Garda Síochána, said the file was marked for closure without her knowledge or consent, even though her name was attached to it as its case manager.
A permanent staff member in the whistleblowers’ office found that a restricted database holding the file was accessed and an entry made on it recommending the file be closed.
The protected disclosure was made anonymously in February 2024. It raised concerns about what happened in the Winchester shotgun case, but also about the storage and management of weapons in the Firearms Section at Garda headquarters.
A protected disclosure is the legal term for whistleblowing, when employees make allegations of wrongdoing in the workplace.
In a statement, An Garda Síochána said it "considers the area of Protected Disclosures to be of the utmost importance and is committed to ensuring the integrity of the structure, system and process for making and investigating all such reports".
The Garda Protected Disclosures Office was set up in mid-2017 as part of reforms introduced to protect...
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