Man arrested after reports GSOC member attended Hutch party

A man has been arrested as part of the investigation into reports that a Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) member attended a party following the acquittal of Gerry Hutch.

Reports emerged that an officer at GSOC attended a party with Hutch, known as the Monk, the day he was acquitted of the 2016 Regency hotel murder of David Byrne, in what became of the first deadly attacks of the Hutch-Kinahan gangland feud.

The Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation unit has searched a home in Dublin three and arrested a man aged in his 60s.

He was arrested on suspicion of an offence contrary to section 81, Garda Siochana Act 2005.

That section relates to members of the Ombudsman Commission disclosing information obtained in carrying out the duties of that person’s office if the disclosure is likely to have a harmful effect.

He is currently detained at a garda station under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.