The High Court refused seven Garda members’ application to quash a decision admitting a public complaint about their conduct, ruling that the complaint was made within the statutory six-month period when sent by fax on 5 September 2004.
Mr Justice John Hedigan also extended the time for bringing the judicial review. He said uncertainty about when the complaint had been made, and about how the statutory deadline was calculated, had delayed the applicants. The judgment was delivered on 22 April 2008.
The complaint concerned alleged conduct during incidents on 5 March and 25 June 2004. The judgment identifies the complainant as Dr David Cloran. It says he telephoned the Garda Síochána Complaints Board chief executive on 3 September 2004, saying he wished to complain. The chief executive told him he was within time and asked him to follow up with a written document.
A fax containing the full complaint was recorded as received at 00:49:20 on 5 September. The Board initially treated the telephone call as the complaint, but later conceded that an oral communication sent electronically could not qualify as a valid complaint under the legislation. Its case therefore rested on the fax.
The officers argued that the fax arrived 49 minutes and 20 seconds after the deadline and that the chief executive’s decision to admit the complaint was invalid. The Board argued it was received on the final day allowed. The court interpreted the statutory wording to mean that conduct had to have occurred within six months before the day on which the complaint was made. As the relevant conduct had ended on 4 March or 24 June, the fax on 5 September was within time, the judgment said.
The court concluded that the complaint was properly made by fax and that the chief executive’s decision on 6 September 2004 to admit it was valid. It refused the application for certiorari. The judgment does not determine whether the alleged conduct occurred or whether the complaint was ultimately substantiated.