The Supreme Court has ruled that Gardaí were entitled to inspect the inside of a car lawfully seized from Noel Noonan on the N7 in County Kildare, where packages alleged to contain controlled drugs were later found in the boot.
The ruling does not restore Noonan's 2023 convictions. The Court of Appeal had already quashed them and ordered a retrial because hearsay evidence about Garda suspicions was improperly presented to the jury. The Supreme Court appeal concerned only the separate question of whether the car's boot had been lawfully opened.
According to the prosecution case proposed for the retrial, Garda David Farragher stopped Noonan on February 13, 2017 after an automatic number-plate system indicated that the Toyota Corolla was untaxed. Noonan could not produce a valid driving licence and the vehicle was seized under road traffic legislation and taken to a Garda compound in Naas.
At the compound, Garda Farragher opened the boot and saw packages. Detectives were called and substances alleged to be amphetamine and alprazolam were recovered.
Noonan argued that Gardaí required a specific search power based on reasonable suspicion before opening the boot. Mr Justice Peter Charleton rejected that argument.
The court held that this was not primarily the exercise of a criminal investigative search power. Once Gardaí had lawfully seized and taken control of the vehicle under road traffic legislation, they assumed ordinary responsibilities for its detention, storage and eventual release or disposal.
Those responsibilities carried an entitlement and duty to make an ordinary inspection of the vehicle, including checking what was inside. Charleton J noted that seized vehicles might contain dangerous, perishable, valuable or unlawful items.
The Supreme Court therefore affirmed the Court of Appeal's order on the search issue. The alleged drugs may be relied upon at the retrial, subject to the ordinary rules of evidence, while the jury must not hear hearsay material about unproven Garda suspicions as evidence of guilt.