Garda Commissioner 'reluctant' to discuss detail of Bike-gate saga at Oireachtas committee

The Garda Commissioner has confirmed he will not be taking any further action against the long-serving garda who is at the centre of the so-called Bike-gate saga.

The garda, who is based in the Midlands, was suspended for three years after his home was raided as part of an investigation which was led by the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

A file was forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecution who determined there was no criminal case to answer while, in recent weeks, a garda disciplinary panel also cleared him of any wrongdoing.

Commissioner Drew Harris was asked about the case during an appearance before the Public Accounts Committee this Thursday morning.

"It appears like a sledgehammer was used to crack a nut here," said Deputy Catherine Murphy of Social Democrats who added that an "extraordinary" amount of garda resources appear to have been used.

While confirming the case "is finished", Commissioner Harris said he was not willing to discuss the matter in detail.

"The difficulty I have, in respect of talking about this, is that only partial information has been put into the public domain - I'm supplying all of the information to both the Policing Authority and to the Minister (of Justice) - the established accountability regime," he said.

Commissioner Harris said he only received the final report from the garda disciplinary panel on Wednesday and that he has not read it yet.

"I haven't seen that yet nor the transcript of the panel so, for my purposes, there is further action for me in respect of that individual member and I'm reluctant to engage in the details of this because a lot of detail is not in the public domain," he told the committee members.

While noting the commissioner's concerns, Deputy Murphy reiterated her concerns about the use of considerable resources "for something of this nature".