The family of murdered Detective Garda Colm Horkan say they only ever wanted an apology from An Garda Síochána and successive ministers for justice regarding their brother being issued with a defective holster.
asserted
brother → murder → holster
Detective Garda Horkan’s family, speaking to the Irish Mail on Sunday, explained that their call this week for a full public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the issuing of an unsuitable holster only occurred because Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan failed to give a substantial reply to two letters in recent months.
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O’Callaghan → speak → months
Speaking in the front room of the pristine family bungalow in East Mayo that the garda lived in until the day he was shot and killed on duty in June 2020, Colm’s family now insist they want basic questions – that they have from reading this newspaper’s coverage – answered.
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they → speak → coverage
But the issue could have been dealt with directly at a much earlier stage, family spokesman Dermot Horkan, a funeral director in Charlestown, Co. Mayo explained.
uncertain
Horkan → deal → Charlestown
‘If they had come to us and said, listen, we’re sorry, we didn’t know the whole story, we would have said: “That’s no problem.
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That → come → story
We’re grateful that you came and spoke to us.
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you → ’re → us
Thanks very much,”’ Dermot said, surrounded by his sister Deirdre, and brother Padraig and with 85-year-old father Marty in the room next door.
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Dermot → say → room
And they reveal that they feel that former Garda Commissioner Drew Harris indicated that they would receive and apology at a meeting at their house following the MoS’s coverage.
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they → reveal → coverage
The family said they would even have accepted an apology from the Justice Minister, even over the course of the last month.
‘If the minister had given an apology, we would have accepted it,’ Dermot said.
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Dermot → say → it
But Dermot explained, with a broken voice, how the family’s trauma was intensified in the wake of Colm’s death by the silence and inaction of their deceased brother’s superiors.
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trauma → explain → superiors
Despite a Garda whistleblower making protected disclosures identifying serious issues with Garda holsters ten months before Colm’s death, the family say the first they had ever heard of questions around his equipment was this newspaper’s front-page revelations in October 2023.
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they → make → October
On November 5, 2023, the MoS disclosed that, ten months before Colm’s death, a Garda with firearms expertise had made protected disclosures (PDs) to his superiors and the Garda Ombudsman expressing concerns about deficient, non-regulation holsters for Garda issue Sig Sauer and Walther pistols.
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Garda → disclose → pistols
Dermot explained, with a broken voice, how the family’s trauma was intensified in the wake of Colm’s death by the silence and inaction of their deceased brother’s superiors
He had warned that his tests on the holsters showed him that they could be discharged accidentally or be easily taken from a Garda by an assailant and used.
uncertain
they → explain → assailant
The first internal PDs were made in August 2019 and Det Garda Horkan was shot dead by his murderer, Stephen Silver on June 17, 2020.
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Horkan → make → June
‘We had not asked questions, and we did not know there was any issue until you broke that story on your front page in 2023,’ said Dermot, adding that they had received communication from the MoS on the Friday night before publication for which they were grateful.
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they → ask → which
Despite the revelations, no official contact was made with the family: ‘We waited to see whether anyone will come near us.
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anyone → make → us
Nobody came near us.
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Nobody → come → us
We never heard a word from the guards.
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We → hear → guards
So the family decided to write – through a solicitor – a letter to then-Justice Minister Helen McEntee and to then-Commissioner Drew Harris in early December 2023.
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family → decide → December
They received a reply from Ms McEntee on December 27.
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They → receive → December
‘Her letter was issued and she said that I had no knowledge of it, and neither did my predecessor Charlie Flanagan.
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predecessor → issue → it
We had no knowledge of these holsters being defective,’ Dermot explained.
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Dermot → have → knowledge
‘We wrote again and when she wrote back, she said: “There’s an appeal, there’s an inquest and an appeal, so we wouldn’t be making any comments on it.”
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we → write → it
‘We wrote Drew Harris a few more letters, asking him to reply to these letters.
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We → write → letters
‘We have these questions, but heard nothing from him till four days before the Garda Memorial Day in Garda HQ.
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We → have → HQ
‘He replied and said, “Yes, I can confirm Colm had a leather holster with the button-style clasp on it,” and that’s all he said.
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he → reply → it
At this stage, they requested a meeting with Commissioner Drew Harris and the MoS understands this was arranged after an intervention from a political figure.
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this → request → figure
The meeting happened in October 2024.
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meeting → happen → October
‘The day he was coming down to open the pitch [named after Colm Horkan], some of us were unhappy that they were allowing him to come down to open the pitch because he wasn’t answering our letters,’ Dermot said.
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Dermot → come → letters
The family contacted then-Taoiseach Simon Harris’s office reminding them that the family were still seeking answers.
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family → contact → answers
The family were subsequently contacted to say the commissioner would meet with them at their home.
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commissioner → contact → home
‘He came in here to the kitchen, himself, and the assistant commissioner, and we asked them all the questions that we had, and we wanted the answers about the holster and the whole lot.
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we → come → holster
And he took them down and Harris said, “Yeah, I can’t see any problem.’
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I → take → problem
‘I said to him Colm lost his life, there are a couple of issues that are being exposed by the MoS, and I said you should address them.
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you → say → them
But we simply want an apology, Colm deserves it, and that’s it.
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that → want → it
‘And he said, “Yeah, can’t see any problem.
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he → say → problem
We’ll go back and we’ll look at this, and I can’t see any problem with you getting your apology.’
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you → go → apology
At this point Dermot looks to his other siblings, points to the kitchen and asks: ‘Isn’t that what he said to us in there.’
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he → look → us
The general election took place in November 2024 and the situation dragged on until after Jim O’Callaghan was appointed Justice Minister in early 2025.
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O’Callaghan → take → 2025
A meeting was subsequently arranged with Drew Harris and the family for March of 2025.
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meeting → arrange → 2025
…and 72 more, not listed.
The Aporia
