Drew Harris Has Questions to Answer over the Hooded Men!
Speaking on the Hooded Men court decision, Aontú Deputy Leader Cllr Denise Mullen has said that Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has questions to answer over the Hooded Men.
Cllr Mullen: “Last week, the British Supreme Court ruled that the decision of the PSNI to refuse to investigate the torture of the Hooded Men was illegal. Drew Harris was integral to that decision and in fact issued a letter to the Hooded Men saying no evidence of torture could be found by the HET. The HET of course being found to be anything but independent in the way it carried out investigations. The Supreme Court ruling directly contradicts Harris’s claims and criticises the investigative failures. This is yet another court ruling which criticises Harris’s tenure in the PSNI. I am calling for he Garda Commissioner to answer questions and for the Irish government to acknowledge this major difficulty.”
“Throughout his tenure in the PSNI/RUC, Harris showed that he was not on the side of survivors and victims of British collusion, of loyalist paramilitaries, of state-sanctioned torture and murder. In 2010, Drew Harris told survivors that there would be no investigation into the nexus between the Glenanne Gang and British collusion. The Belfast High Court slammed this decision, decrying it as an ‘extreme abuse of power.’ There are huge question marks over his role in covering up information about British collusion in murders such as the Miami Showband Massacre. Then there was his undermining and annexation of the HET. The list goes on, and underscore one undeniable question: should Drew Harris ever have been appointed Garda Commissioner.”
