Garda whistleblower not told document was 'under investigation'

Garda management questioned a senior civilian handler of whistleblower cases earlier this year about the authorship of a document she sent querying an investigation report into a controversial protected disclosure.

Rose Sweeney learned in recent days that An Garda Síochána was publicly stating that the provenance of the document was "under investigation".

Ms Sweeney told RTÉ Investigates that in her capacity as a statutory, protected disclosures manager in An Garda Síochána, in July 2024 she sent a document of over 100 pages of queries back to the investigation into protected disclosures of a former Garda armourer.

She did not get a response and was later formally taken to task for sending the queries by former Commissioner Drew Harris.

In January and February this year, she was surprised to be called to meetings in Garda headquarters to answer questions about whether the document was written by someone outside the organisation.

The meetings came 18 months after she sent the document to a senior investigating officer she had commissioned to carry out the investigation and report back.

She was told that the previous Commissioner, Drew Harris had asked for an examination of an issue, "to see if I had gone outside the organisation with a confidential report", and that a report on the issue would be sent to the current Commissioner, Justin Kelly.

She was invited to have a representative present and availed of the offer and was questioned by a senior executive about who helped her draft the document.

She outlined the members of the Protected Disclosures Office who had. They included the facilitator and permanently assigned staff member who ran the Office, Dr Donal Corcoran, and other personnel.

She said she was assured the inquiries were fact finding and not part of an investigation or disciplinary process.

Ms Sweeney, the head of the Garda National Youth Diversion Bureau, said that the questioning, across three meetings, suggested to her that Garda management's "focus is still on the messenger, not on the message".

Following the documentary 'RTÉ Investigates — The Gardaí: Full Disclosure’ on Wednesday, An Garda Síochána widely released the statement it had made to the programme.

WATCH: RTÉ Investigates — The Gardaí: Full Disclosure on RTÉ Player

In the statement, responding to questions about the July 2024 document and why it was not answered, it said: "An Garda Síochána is not in a position to comment on this because the provenance of said document sent by the named member of Garda staff is under investigation."

Separately, Rose Sweeney was informed by email yesterday that she has been overpaid for a period of sick leave and will be told in due course how much is owed back.

She was informed that the situation arose because Garda payroll runs in advance and dhe had left her day job suffering from severe anxiety and stress and has exhausted her paid sick leave.

She was told she was removed from the payroll, effective from 17 August.

Last month, two officers came unannounced to the door of Dr Corcoran’s family home to hand him a letter informing him he too had been overpaid for a period of sick leave and he owed €1,700 back.

Merit

The then Garda Protected Disclosures Office received a protected disclosure from a Garda armourer, Luke Rochford, in August 2020.

It first commissioned an examination of the disclosures. In January 2021 a team led by a chief superintendent found that all the allegations merited investigation.

In her role as a protected disclosures manager, Ms Sweeney then commissioned an investigation from another chief superintendent.

It took three years, and when it reported back, it found that none of the allegations merited a file going to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Ms Sweeney considered the report with members of the Protected Disclosures Office.

There were a number of questions arising.

They drafted the questions into a document, and in July 2024, Ms Sweeney sent a document of some 100 pages of queries on the investigation report to the lead investigator she had appointed to it.

She said it was normal practice for protected disclosure managers to follow up investigation reports with questions and clarifications before a case could be finalised.

She received no response.

After a "new" Protected Disclosures Unit was set up in January 2025, Ms Sweeney came under increasing pressure to close the file. She said she resisted repeated requests for her to accept the investigation report as it was and to close the file.

‘Please explain’

Then, a year after she sent the list of queries to the investigation, in June 2025, she received an email sent on behalf of then Commissioner Harris stating that it appeared she had gone "outside the procedures pertinent to protected disclosures" in sending them.

Ms Sweeney viewed the correspondence as a ‘please explain’ letter, often seen as a precursor to disciplinary action.

She responded in detail, outlining the procedural and legal basis for her query document, including the Garda Protected Disclosures Policy, and the Protected Disclosures Acts.

But she regarded the letter, which came three months before Commissioner Harris retired, as the final straw; she resigned her position as a protected disclosure manager to focus on her main job as head of the Garda National Youth Diversion Bureau.

Commenting on the ‘please explain’ letter, Senator Michael McDowell, who as Minister for Justice put in place the first Garda whistleblower legal mechanisms in the Garda Síochána Act 2005, said: "It was plain intimidation of her, in my view."

"There is a huge danger in all of this that those who do not like the substance of what they see or what is drawn to their attention take refuge in procedure", he said.

He said: "Procedure can be invoked with malice and can be ignored with impunity."

Closed

The Rochford file was reassigned within the new Protected Disclosures Office on Friday, 20 June 2025, and was closed within one working day, on Monday 23 June 2025.

On the advice of her doctor, Ms Sweeney went out sick, but she said she felt at the time that she could not reveal the stress she was under to her employer.

She said that against her doctor’s advice, she returned to her main role as head of the Garda National Youth Diversion Bureau in August 2025, as she did not want the situation affecting her day job.

Drew Harris retired as Garda commissioner in September 2025 and was replaced by Commissioner Justin Kelly.

Questioned

When questioned in January and February this year, Ms Sweeney expressed surprise that the inquiry was being carried out under the direction of the previous Commissioner, Drew Harris, but was reporting back to current Commissioner Kelly.

She said that when she asked if the meetings to question her were part of a disciplinary process, she was told they were not, at this stage.

The inquiries appeared to stem from a name unknown to her that was listed as one of the electronic ‘authors’ in the document’s properties.

Ms Sweeney said she had not gone outside the organisation and did not know the name on the document.

"I hadn't a clue who it was", she said. "I went through all the records and I said, I do not know this individual, but this is where I keep my records, and I listed all the people that I knew had access."

Ms Sweeney told RTÉ Investigates that she took no issue with the senior executive or the questions, but the focus and timing of the inquiries under the new Commissioner caused her concern.

"This was January 2026", she said. "The previous Commissioner retired in September 2025."

"And I said very clearly: I am worried that you are focusing on a name in the document’s properties and not the contents of the report that is there and the questions that have never been answered", she said.

In the full statement to RTÉ Investigates that An Garda publicly released on the night of 16 September, An Garda said: "All reports of alleged wrongdoing received by An Garda Síochána are processed in line with the Garda Síochána Protected Disclosures Policy, which is available on the Garda website. An Garda Síochána reports publicly and to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in line with our statutory obligations."

It said Transparency International Ireland (TI) offered free, confidential expert advice for any member considering making a disclosure.

However, TI Ireland has said it is seriously concerned by the allegations aired in the RTÉ Investigates programme, and said that "allegations that protected disclosures, including those from Garda Protected Disclosures Unit personnel, were met with delay, hostility and penalisation, are deeply troubling."

It said that over the past 15 years, its helpline has provided guidance and support to 46 Garda members and staff, including former Sergeant Maurice McCabe, and Luke Rochford.

In July this year, Rose Sweeney left her workplace under medical advice, and after exhausting her remaining sick leave, she is now reliant on social welfare illness benefit payments.