Ireland's police chief, Martin Callinan, resigns over whistleblower row
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Version 0 of 1. Ireland's top police officer resigned on Tuesday following criticism of his handling of information from whistleblowers. Martin Callinan announced he was standing down as head of the Garda Síochána after a controversy over driver penalty points. Two whistleblowers have made repeated allegations that fellow Garda officers routinely wiped penalty points for road traffic breaches for well-connected people. Callinan came under sustained criticism over his handling of the affair and even faced demands from Ireland's deputy prime minister, Eamon Gilmore, to withdraw remarks he made about the whistleblowers. The issue has caused rifts within the Fine Gael-Labour ruling coalition in Dublin as the justice minister, Alan Shatter, fought a rearguard campaign to defend Callinan from his critics. Two months ago Callinan caused outrage when he described the actions of the two whistleblowing Garda officers as disgusting during a hearing by an Irish parliamentary committee into the affair. |