{"id":319379,"date":"2026-02-27T02:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T02:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/319379\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T02:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T02:56:11","slug":"gardai-to-be-drug-tested-and-have-bank-accounts-checked-as-part-of-in-career-vetting-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/319379\/","title":{"rendered":"Garda\u00ed to be drug tested and have bank accounts checked as part of in-career vetting \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Garda<\/a> members have been convicted of crimes 14 times over the past two years, including for domestic violence and drug-related cases. About half of the convictions arise from road traffic offences.<\/p>\n

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly<\/a> has said that while only a \u201csmall minority\u201d of Garda members were placed under investigation, and only one or two were dismissed each year, in-service vetting was being ramped up. This would include garda\u00ed being drug tested, and their bank accounts being checked for unusual activity, he said.<\/p>\n

Any Garda member who applied for a post in a specialist unit \u2013 including sexual and domestic violence, national security and organised crime, among others \u2013 would be closely examined in a fresh vetting process. <\/p>\n

The era of Garda members being vetted when they applied to join the force, and then never being checked closely again, was coming to an end, Kelly said, once the legislation providing for the changes was finalised and enacted.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment you can go through 40 years\u2019 service (in the Garda) and you are never vetted again,\u201d Kelly told a public meeting of the Policing and Community Safety Authority (PCSA) in Dublin on Thursday. <\/p>\n

Revealing the number of Garda members convicted from 2024-2025 at 14, Kelly said mid-career, or in-service, vetting was being introduced to weed out problem members of the force.<\/p>\n

In the case of Garda members seeking roles in very specialist areas of policing and security, it was crucial the Garda ensured there was \u201cnothing in their background that has emerged since they joined the organisation that would be a cause for concern\u201d. <\/p>\n

He said in some cases Garda members first came to the attention of the authorities within the force after complaints were made. Significant concerns emerged when even very basic checks were made, such as reviewing their social media<\/a> accounts.<\/p>\n

As a result, he said, it was imperative to make those social media checks part of in-service vetting \u2013 and to go much further. This would include checking the financial backgrounds of garda\u00ed at different times through their careers.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Half of gifts accepted by garda\u00ed broke anti-corruption rulesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Kelly said drug testing, which has been promised for years, was also close to being finalised once the legislation was in place.<\/p>\n

PCSA chair Elaine Byrne said drug testing for Garda members should not be regarded as \u201ccontroversial\u201d in any way. She pointed out that many workers, including in construction, were tested for drugs as a condition of their employment. Also, garda\u00ed were testing drivers for drink and drugs \u201cevery day of the week\u201d.<\/p>\n

Kelly agreed, but said in-career vetting and drug testing, when combined and introduced around the same time, represented a \u201csea change\u201d in the Garda culture. <\/p>\n

The change in vetting, for example, was very significant as it would involve long-standing members of the Garda having their bank accounts and other financial records checked as part of the process when they were applying for new jobs within the force.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Garda members have been convicted of crimes 14 times over the past two years, including for domestic violence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[45,42,61415,43,58,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-319379","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-justin-kelly","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-social-media","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}