Family of Colm Horkan ‘extremely let down’ by decision to refer case to Garda watchdog

The family of Colm Horkan have said they “feel extremely let down” by the Minister for Justice’s decision to ask policing watchdog Fiosrú to investigate matters related to the murdered garda’s case.

Fiosrú on Wednesday confirmed it had received a request from Jim O’Callaghan to open an independent investigation into “matters concerning the safety and suitability of the firearm holster used by Det Garda Colm Horkan at the time of the incident in which he was murdered”.

Horkan was shot and killed with his own gun by Stephen Silver in Castlerea, Co Roscommon, on June 17th, 2020. There have been claims he was issued a faulty firearms holster.

Silver earlier this year lodged an appeal against his murder conviction and the matter remains live. His lawyers have argued that the State’s psychiatric evidence contradicted the legal test for insanity.

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Political pressure regarding the case has increased in recent months after Garda whistleblower allegations about unsuitable holsters featured in an RTÉ Investigates programme. It was alleged the holsters became loose over time and the leather creased around the trigger of the gun, creating the threat of accidental discharge. Concern was also raised that fingers could reach into the holster, even when it was closed, and pull the trigger.

The holsters were officially removed from service and were meant to be replaced by polymer versions in a phased roll-out by the end of 2022, with the leather holsters then shredded.

Speaking in the Dáil on Wednesday, O’Callaghan said he had met the Horkan family a number of times, including last week, and was “aware of their call for a public inquiry into Colm’s death”.

He said it was “important to allow for the conclusion” of ongoing criminal proceedings, the outcome of an inquest and other matters “before considering if there is a need for a public inquiry”.

O’Callaghan said Fiosrú had all the necessary powers to fully investigate the holster matter. “They are fully independent and I have every confidence in their capacity to investigate this issue without fear or favour.”

The Horkan family said the Minister “of his own volition” had asked Fiosrú to investigate the holster but they “saw no bar” to holding a public inquiry.

In a statement, they said O’Callaghan told them Silver’s ongoing appeal was a bar to a public inquiry, but yet he “has now triggered this private investigation” by Fiosrú.

The family said it understood Fiosrú had already investigated one protected disclosure concerning the holsters and that issues concerning them had been known to its predecessor, the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc), as far back as 2019.

They said they did not know Fiosrú’s terms of reference and whether its investigation would “deal with any of the matters that we have raised and to which we want answers”.

“In short, we have no faith in this process and feel extremely let down by the Minister,” the statement concluded.

Fiosrú said contact had been made with the Horkan family and it would be making no further comment at this time.

Labour’s spokesman on justice Alan Kelly told the Dáil the Minister’s decision “is another layer of insult and injury” for the Horkan family. He said it was a “joke” that Gsoc had previously started and discontinued such an investigation because it “couldn’t get co-operation” from Garda management.

The issue arose during a Private Members’ debate introduced by Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín, who called for a public inquiry into the handling of Garda protected disclosures and protections for whistleblowers.

Tóibín also said serious questions “arise concerning statements made by senior Garda management about the holster-safety forensic examinations” and “there is a whole range of firearms questions at the heart of this”.

Kelly, who has repeatedly raised the holster issue in the Dáil, said senior gardaí knew they were defective and dangerous, with hundreds of members refusing to use them, and buying their own instead.

Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy, chairman of the Oireachtas justice committee, said the referral to Fiosrú was a “cop-out” and no substitute for holding an independent public inquiry. He said past public interest inquiries carried out by Gsoc “became synonymous with delays and frustration of truth-seeking processes”.