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Garda data chief denies whistleblower faced applying for her own job

Garda’s chief information officer called back to testify by video-link to Workplace Relations Commission on Friday

Lois West, who was deputy head of the Garda Síochana Analysis Service (GSAS) at assistant principal grade prior to taking extended sick leave, says her career has been “stymied” since she testified to the Oireachtas about errors in the recording of official homicide data

Stephen Bourke
Fri Mar 8 2024 - 20:46

The chief information officer of An Garda Síochána has rejected the suggestion that his evidence on Garda whistleblower Lois West’s involvement in plans to reorganise the force’s analytics service was “untruthful”.

The Garda CIO, Andrew O’Sullivan, was called back to testify by video-link to the Workplace Relations Commission on Friday on what was meant to be the fifth and final day of the tribunal’s hearings into a series of statutory complaints lodged by Ms West.

Ms West, who was deputy head of the Garda Síochana Analysis Service (GSAS) at assistant principal grade prior to taking extended sick leave, says her career has been “stymied” since she testified to the Oireachtas about errors in the recording of official homicide data six years ago.

She also claims the force mishandled a complaint she made about bullying and sexual harassment by a senior official in Garda Headquarters – who has since resigned.

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Mr O’Sullivan was recalled after the State was directed to disclose a business case document for the expansion of the Garda Síochána Analytics Service when he mentioned it during his evidence earlier this week. He said then that Ms West was a “co-author” of the document and “would have been actively involved” in the discussions in 2020.

Under the new GSAS structure, there would be two deputy heads at principal officer grade reporting to a director, overseeing seven assistant principals and between 80 and 100 analysts, the tribunal heard.

The section had previously been headed up by a principal officer to whom Ms West and a fellow assistant principal had reported directly as joint deputy heads – but with the top job vacant at the time, Ms West and her colleague were sharing leadership of the unit, the tribunal was told.

Under cross-examination, Mr O’Sullivan said: “At no point did Ms West do anything other than support the business case. I would take that as meaning she was supportive.”

“I’m putting it to you that’s untruthful, and Ms West will say it’s untruthful the way you’ve characterised it ... that Ms West never knew she was being demoted by having her deputy role removed. She never knew, and would never have consented,” David Byrnes BL, for Ms West, told the witness.

“Well, if that’s her position, I can’t comment on that. I do not agree Ms West was being demoted. Ms West had made repeated statements that GSAS was chronically under-resourced and she also said she was under a lot of pressure herself,” Mr O’Sullivan said.

He said it would be “news to me” that Ms West did not support the business case for expansion.

Mr Byrnes also put it to the witness that a second business case document referring specifically to two principal officer deputy heads of GSAS meant that what “actually happened is the role stays the same”.

“All that’s happened is Ms West’s role has been elevated to principal officer [and she’] being made to apply for her own job,” Mr Byrnes said.

“I do not accept that at all,” Mr O’Sullivan said. “What I did in agreement with Ms West and Ms [Sarah] Parsons was to plan out the future strategic growth of GSAS, positioning it as a much larger, more strategic organisation.”

“They were the deputy heads of GSAS, but a smaller GSAS. There was never any question there would be some kind of automatic conversion of what they were operating at. The two APs would have to go through a competition, and identify that they were operating at principal officer level,” he said.

Adjudicator Roger McGrath had previously told the parties he wanted to conclude the hearing with closing submissions on Friday. Ms West’s legal team said their client had the right to respond to the new documents.

“She’s not in a position to give evidence today because of her condition ... Ms West is in an incredibly fragile state of mind. Getting instructions have been difficult, she managed to do that [but] she cannot be expected to come back here remotely or in person to offer evidence,” Mr Byrnes said.

“We are where we are – we’ll have to adjourn,” Mr McGrath said, closing the hearing and putting the matter back until April 16th.

Ms West’s complaints are under the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and the Payment of Wages Act 1991 against the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána, the government, and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

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