A complaint by four members of the Garda's Emergency Response Unit over the conduct of the Oireachtas inquiry into the fatal Abbeylara shooting of John Carthy has been rejected.
Unhappy about being brought before the inquiry, the gardai alleged the inquiry had "made serious, unfounded, unwarranted, unreasonable and unfair allegations" against their senior counsel, Mr John Rogers, both at the hearings and on television.
In addition, the sub-committee of the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women Rights had not "displayed sufficient objectivity to fairly deal" with the complaints made about Mr Carthy's death.
The gardai told the Committee on Procedures and Privileges (CPP) that members of the subcommittee had "abused the privilege of the Oireachtas" in dealing with submissions made by Mr Rogers.
Initially, the sub-committee told the Committee on Procedures and Privileges it would not be "appropriate" to respond given that the gardai had been directed to appear before it.
Since the gardai were challenging the right of Oireachtas committees to conduct inquiries, the sub-committee then believed it should respond to any question dealing with privilege after the High Court had completed its hearing.
However, the sub-committee rethought its position at the end of May and accepted the CPP had the right and duty to oversee the conduct of any inquiry conducted by any Oireachtas committee.
Insisting it had carried out its work "in a fair and objective manner", the sub-committee said the gardai's allegations were without foundation and it forwarded transcripts of its hearings to the CPP.
This week, the CPP reviewed these transcripts and found the sub-committee had done its work "in accordance with the standing orders and rules": "Accordingly, the complaints of lack of objectivity, unfairness and breach of parliamentary privilege could not be upheld."
In a report published yesterday, the Ceann Comhairle, Mr Seamus Pattison, said the CPP was satisfied "there is no basis to the complaints made and so finds accordingly".
Last night, one of the subcommittee's members, Labour TD Mr Brendan Howlin, said the CPP review had "validated" the sub-committee's work.
