Tribunal does not uphold Paul Barry’s targeting allegations

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Disclosures Tribunal did not uphold retired Garda sergeant Paul Barry’s allegations that senior Garda members targeted or discredited him after he made a protected disclosure. The proceedings were reported on 25 March 2023.

Mr Barry alleged that attempts to transfer him, refusals to authorise annual leave and issues concerning his sick leave for work-related stress were among the events that represented his being targeted. The tribunal said it was not difficult to understand how different interpretations of events could have arisen and that there were occasions when he had grounds for thinking the worst, but it did not uphold his complaints.

His protected disclosure, made on 2 October 2012, contained nine allegations of bullying and harassment against Superintendent Michael Comyns. The tribunal said the final allegation accused the superintendent of unlawfully interfering in an investigation into an alleged sexual assault reported in February 2012. The tribunal said it was not empowered to investigate the protected disclosure itself.

The tribunal noted that Mr Barry did not complain about Superintendent Comyns at the time of the sexual assault investigation. It said he completed the investigation and submitted a file to the superintendent for transmission to the Director of Public Prosecutions, while avoiding contact with him as much as he could.