Gardaí and the media: An unholy alliance

A democracy rests on more than one pillar. Over time, various institutions and arrangements come into play, each balancing the other and all inter-relating, sometimes uneasily but usually constructively, to give a broadly stable body politic.

In Ireland we think of the legislature, the judiciary and the civil service as the three key elements or estates, overseen by the Presidency and bounded by the Constitution.
The press regards itself as the fourth estate, an essential bulwark against the excesses of politicians, the judiciary and the civil service. Amongst the latter, however awkwardly, stand the Garda Siochána, who regard themselves as servants and protectors of the public, and the State, against crime and subversion.
The last few weeks have seen these two very important groups come into direct conflict... again.
Last week the Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy was so exercised by press coverage of the tragic death of Tania Corcoran, a young Garda sergeant who died in childbirth along with one of her twin babies, that he issued a statement on his own behalf and that of members of the force.
In this, he described some of the media coverage as “disgusting, hurtful, tasteless and obscene.” He pointed out that “Tania was a woman, a wife and a mother and her occupation, which in no way contributed to her death, is irrelevant.”
In this, no doubt, he was referring to the extraordinary headline in the Evening Herald: ‘Cop Dies In Childbirth’.
He also referred to reports that her husband Aidan was a member of the force and was involved in the Abbeylara siege in which John Carthy was shot dead, saying that these were “irrelevant to the death of his wife and son and any references to that (Abbeylara) were unnecessary.”
He was right. The coverage was extraordinary and unpleasant. It elicited a huge and universally hostile response. Even the National Union of Journalists expressed disquiet. But there was something else. It was vindictive and brutal.
It wasn’t, however, the only occasion where a person was slandered. Some days before Tania Corcoran’s death Derek O’Toole died in a mystery car accident while on his way home from a night socialising with friends. It was reported that he was hit while lying on the road.
It now seems that it was a tragic accident. He may have passed out or have suffered a stroke or embolism or sudden adult death before being struck by the car. We don’t know. What we do know is that somebody tried to blacken his name. Newspapers suggested that he was, in that sleazy phrase beloved of crime reporters, “known to Gardaí”. At least one newspaper reported that he had “a number of convictions”.
None of this was true. He was a model citizen, a young man who had survived two bouts of cancer, and who did voluntary work in the Clondalkin area. Friends described their night out and were adamant that he was not drunk. He walked a female friend home just before his death.
He may not have been lying on the road, he may have been tying a shoelace. Whatever. Only those involved in his death, the driver of the car that hit him and the passengers, could have suggested he was lying on the road. And they are all members of the Gardaí.
So, who floated the idea that he was ‘known to the Gardai’? Who slandered him? Who generated reports in the papers that were every bit as disgusting, hurtful and tasteless as reports of Tania Corcoran’s death?
Right now we don’t know. And given the culture of the Garda Siochana, we almost certainly won’t. Officially the Gardaí distanced themselves from the slanders and, for example in the Sunday Tribune, warned the public against “unnamed sources quoted in newspapers.”
But the press practice of attributing to “sources” didn’t just grow out of the ground like a mushroom. It arose out of the unhealthy relationship between some members of the press and some members of the police! They’re the unnamed sources!
And there is a long list of people with grievances against the Gardaí over comments attributed to “sources” – for example Dean Lyons, the hapless drug addict falsely convicted of the murder of two women patients in Grangegorman.
One sympathises are entirely with Tania Corcoran’s family and all who know them. Nothing justifies the wretched, sleazy way in which her death was covered. But one also empathises with the O’Toole family and those others tarred by hints of wrongdoing, hints that had no basis in fact.
Maybe now, as everyone recoils from the horrible culture of nudge and fudge, nod and wink, of “signals”, suggestions and “sources”, and from the hysterical pursuit of a hard headline, we might have a chance to reconsider a few things.
One of these is that the Gardaí need a professional press office staffed by civilians who can give the public the facts, just the facts, without being worried about what saying something might do to their Garda career. And apparently, such a thing is due to happen soon.
Another is that in a mixed-up confusion all we can actually rely on is what we truly know. Journalists have to be utterly sceptical of the hints, the hunches, the ifs and maybes that have corrupted our sense of truth and of evidence. No, all we know is the facts, ma’am, just the facts. Leaky Gardaí and bug-eyed crime reporters please copy.