Justice

The inside story of how two Gardai were punished for their honesty, by Gene Kerrigan

YOU HAVE IT NOW. I'M NOT going to make it difficult for you," Joe Ainsworth was overrheard to say to Larry Wren during the crisis-filled weeks in which Wren saw out the Mc Laughlin/Ainssworth regime. And indeed Wren had it all, as his old rival conceded; the commissionership, a reputation unsullied by the wave of political scandal, and a clean sweep at the top of the force which left him head and shoulders above any possible internal challlenge. by Olivia O'Leary

There is nothing at all surprising about the Kerry Babies scandal. The social elements (with echoes of the Lovett case) are not surprising and even less surprising are the criminal justice elements. For a decade conscientious gardai, lawyers, journalists and other observers have been expecting a case to come along which would be so crudely handled that even a Minister for Justice would be embarrassed. For the past decade the gardai have been systematically employing such methods in order to do their job and this has been tolerated by successive Ministers for Justice.

The Crime

There were four houses at the crossroads. The McCooeys, the O'Harts, the Kinsellas and the Halls. This was at Legnakelly, a crossroads about a mile and a half outside Clones, County Monaghan. Just yards from the border. Two cars came across the border from Ferrnanagh, each carrying four men. The men were armed. When they got to the crossroads they donned masks, left the cars and split up, four at the front of the McCooey home, four at the back.

IN MOUNTJOY JAIL ON SUNDAY MORNING, 3 June Patrick Ennis, a prisoner serving a five year sentence for larceny found a black polyythene rubbish bag in the A3 landing which he subsequently discovered had been put there by a fellow prisoner who had taken it the previous day from the censor's office along the landing. There were two bags taken from the office that day: the other was placed where rubbish is collected on D3 wing, also close to the censor's office.  By Colm Toibin

Every three months, on average, someone dies in a police station or prison. The deaths are seldom natural, often violent and sometimes without a satisfactory explanation. Gene Kerrigan reports.

YOU had intercourse with your husband before you were mar¬ried; how many other people did you have intercourse with before that? When was the first time you had intercourse'? Are you going with some¬one now? Do you have intercourse with him? Where do you have it? Do you have it in a car?"

The debate on the Criminal Justice Bill raises questions about the wider powers being given to the police. The powers and methods which are now being legitimised by the Bill barged their way into Christy Lynch's life and tore a family apart.

Mark Brennock reports on the riots in Mountjoy and on the subsequent Garda regime in the prison.

Derek Dunne examines the new information which has come to light in the Sallins case.