Charges against three Limerick gardaí dropped after six year probe

David Raleigh

Three serving Limerick gardaí who were due to stand trial for alleged perverting the course of justice were told on Wednesday that all charges against them are to be dropped.

The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) informed the solicitors' firm representing the three gardaí that it would be formally dropping all charges at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court on March 25th.

The three Limerick-based Gardaí have been suspended for the past six years, facing criminal charges arising from an investigation led by the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI) - a Dublin-based Garda unit located at Harcourt Square.

The probe focused on alleged unlawful garda interference in the prosecution of fixed charge penalty notices in respect of pending or potential motoring offences.

The three gardaí - Garda Peter O'Donnell, 52, Garda Paul Baynham, 37, and Garda Niall Deegan, 51, all serving in the Roads Policing Unit, Henry Street Garda Station, Limerick Garda Division - deny all of the charges.

The three gardaí are represented by solicitor Liz Hughes, Hughes Murphy Solicitors, Wellington Quay, Dublin.

In September 2024, the three accused officers appeared before Limerick District Court charged with a total of 33 counts that, while serving as a member of An Garda Síochána, they did communicate with other gardaí, in a manner which had a tendency or was intended to pervert the course of public justice, on dates between 2017 and 2019.

O’Donnell was accused of 14 separate counts; Baynham was facing ten separate counts; and Deegan was charged with nine separate counts under the legislation.

Detective Inspector Mark Waters, GNBCI, told the court in September 2024 that he arrested and charged each of the three gardaí, and that each accused "made no reply" to the charges.

Waters told the court that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had consented to the three gardaí facing trial on indictment at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court.

However, the office of the DPP contacted the solicitors' firm representing the three gardaí on Wednesday and informed it that the three accused would not face trial, as all charges were being dropped.

On March 2nd this year, the Limerick Circuit Criminal Court was told that the prosecutions against the three accused were facing lengthy delays due to a drain on resources and budgetary overruns.

The prosecuting barrister, senior counsel Carl Hanahoe, apologised to the court for those delays.

Hanahoe said the prosecution was “not in a position to proceed” with the trials on March 2nd. He cited “budgetary overruns”, as well as the time it would take for the GNBCI to organise a number of potential witnesses, as reasons for the delay.

Hanahoe told Judge Colin Daly on March 2nd: “I have to apologise for (the delay).”

Senior Counsel, John Byrne, for Baynham and O’Donnell, and Senior Counsel, James B Dwyer, for Deegan, each made applications before Judge Daly to have the cases struck out on March 2nd last.

Byrnes and Dwyer told the court that their clients had been under investigation by GNBCI since 2019, that they had remained on suspension since 2020, and they were still waiting to be served with a disclosure of evidence from the prosecution.

Byrne told the court the situation facing his client was “highly unsatisfactory”.

Dwyer, in seeking a strike out of the charges against Gda Deegan, also cited a criminal case, which he argued was struck out because the prosecuting garda had not been present in court.

Dwyer said his side had requested disclosure from the prosecution in 2024, and although they had received “partial” disclosure in 2025, they had heard “nothing” since then “despite repeated requests” for full disclosure from the prosecution.

The judge said on March 2nd that he would “consider” striking out the cases against all three accused, if the State did not complete requests for disclosure “within a reasonable time”.

The DPP’s decision not to pursue prosecutions against the three gardaí comes two months on from the jury acquittals of a retired superintendent and four serving gardaí who were accused of similar offences.

Last January, retired superintendent Eamon O’Neill, alongside his wife Sergeant Anne Marie Hassett; Sergeant Michelle Leahy; Garda Colm Geary and Garda Tom McGlinchey; were all found not guilty following their nine-week trial at Limerick circuit criminal court.

Afterwards, politicians including Fianna Fáil TDs Willie O’Dea and Cathal Crowe criticised the prosecutions of the five accused, and argued the matters should have been dealt with by way of internal disciplinary procedures, should they have been deemed appropriate.

Labour TD Alan Kelly has called for an independent enquiry into why the gardaí and retired superintendent were charged with criminal offences in the first place.