Allegations are that governor ‘stole supplies and equipment from prison’

A PRISON governor has been accused of stealing supplies and equipment for a private side business, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The allegations are contained in a series of protected disclosures by an Irish Prison Service (IPS) whistleblower, which have been referred to gardaí for investigation.

There are more than 50 individuals of governor rank in the prison service.

The whistleblower has also accused his prison superiors of covering up and facilitating the alleged fraud for years.

In a further disclosure to then interim Justice Minister Simon Harris earlier this year, the whistleblower accused the head of the Department of Justice of attempting to block a Garda investigation into the theft allegations.

The governor at the centre of the claims strongly denied the allegations when contacted by the MoS this week.

The Department of Justice said it could not comment on protected disclosures.

In disclosures seen by the MoS, the whistleblower details claims of how he was removed from a position of responsibility over provisions and supplies at the prison where he worked in 2013 when he refused to accommodate the alleged thefts.

After being removed from the role, the prison worker made a protected disclosure, but at that point, was afraid to name the governor and his alleged theft.

Instead, he outlined health and safety concerns relating to unqualified staff who replaced him. He also expressed concerns about a waste of public funds spent training him for a job he was not allowed to do anymore.

After making his initial disclosure, the claims he was subjected to a campaign of harassment and intimidation, for which the IPS and the Department of Justice later issued formal apologies.

He said his locker was branded with the word ‘Rat’ and he expressed fears he would be ‘framed for criminal acts’.

The whistleblower also described how those aware of allegedly criminal acts within the prison system are controlled on a ‘grace and favour basis’, with ‘certain privileges’ given to those ‘involved in or aware of crimes’.

In 2019, the whistleblower made a further disclosure in which he named the governor who allegedly asked him to assist in the theft of prison property.

He also described how he told superiors in the IPS and the Department of Justice about the alleged actions of the governor since 2016, but to no avail.

Throughout this time, the governor at the centre of the allegations has continued an otherwise unblemished career and has never been directly questioned or investigated by the IPS or the Department of Justice. According to the whistleblower’s disclosure, some of the materials taken from prison were used to provide professional services to a sports club with whom the governor is associated.

The dossier includes documentation from the sports club, in which a business – apparently related to the governor – sponsored events.

Social media posts uncovered by the MoS appear to show the governor being thanked publicly for the free supplies.

When the MoS approached the officer this week, he said he was aware of the theft allegations con- tained in the disclosures.

‘I’ve been aware of this for five years,’ he said. ‘I thought it was so ridiculous it was going nowhere.’

‘Some of the stuff he [whistleblower] came out with was – you know, it was so mad – I think, possibly, the IPS considered it so ridiculous they didn’t maybe take it seriously enough.’

The governor denied the whistleblower had been removed from his role for refusing to cooperate with theft.

‘I can tell you why this allegation emerged – he was taken out of [his position], but it was very, very bona fide,’ he said. Asked if he had ever been questioned by gardaí, the IPS or the Department of Justice, the governor replied: ‘I have never been questioned on this. Never.

‘There was never even an informal or formal conversation with me, around [whistleblower’s name].’ The whistleblower also alleges prison staff participated in and facilitated the continued theft of jail supplies. Instead of reporting these matters to gardaí, he claims his prison superiors covered up and facilitated the alleged fraud for years. The disclosure details specific dates when the prison worker knew in advance that fellow officers would be allegedly stealing supwhistleblower plies. It also describes how a superior allegedly told the whistleblower to take leave rather than be present when thefts occurred. However, this claim is also denied by the superior involved.

These alleged crimes were finally reported to gardaí, in April 2020, by the Department of Justice, on the advice of an independent review the IPS commissioned into the disclosures. By the beginning of 2021, the Garda National Bureau of Criminal

Investigation (NBCI) had begun interviewing witnesses as part of their investigation.

Detectives also held initial meetings with the whistleblower, who had repeatedly sought assurances from current Justice Minister Helen McEntee and other Government figures that he would be protected from further intimidation.

The whistleblower was prepared to provide evidence to back up his allegations if he was protected by the authorities. It would also include the names of other officers who used and stole prison property and supplies. Further evidence cited include prison logbooks, order forms for supplies, inventories and other files that the whistleblower believes corroborate his claims.

But the Garda investigation was stalled in May 2021 when the whistleblower received a letter from Department of Justice Secretary General Oonagh McPhillips.

The letter, written on behalf of then acting Justice Minister Heather Humphries, accused the whistleblower of defaming a department official. Viewing the intervention as further intimidation by the department, the whistleblower withdrew his cooperation.

In March this year, the whistleblower submitted a further disclosure to interim Justice Minister Simon Harris, claiming the intervention by the department’s top civil servant was an attempt to interfere with and prevent a Garda investigation.

The disclosure further alleged the Oireachtas may have been misled if the Department of Justice submitted budgets that did not take account of this ‘substantial theft’.

Minister Harris sent the latest disclosure to the Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner (OPDC) in April and the OPDC asked the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) to investigate. The C&AG told the OPDC last month it didn’t have ‘the power to investigate alleged fraud or theft of State property’ so sent the disclosure to Garda Commissioner Drew Harris. Minister McEntee said whistleblower laws stop her commenting on any protected disclosures.

A Department of Justice spokesperson said criminal allegations are a matter for gardaí, adding: ‘The Department nor the Minister has any role in relation to such investigations’.

An IPS spokesperson said it could not comment on the ‘nature, substance and/or outcomes of protected disclosures’.