A Garda sergeant who alleges bullying within the force has submitted to the High Court that after she applied for a new position following the death of her son, a superior officer told her: “I suppose you thought you would get a consolation prize for losing your son.”
At the High Court this week, Sgt Laura Gaffey, Kilcullen, Co Kildare, through barrister Neil Rafter, instructed by Matthew Byrne of Hammerstones solicitors, Naas, was granted permission to pursue her legal challenge over the handling of her complaints to An Garda Síochána.
Gaffey, in sworn court documents, submits she is a senior and extensively qualified Garda sergeant with 18 years’ experience. Since 2018, she says she has had an “ongoing” grievance with a supervising inspector, who, she submits, engaged in “bullying behaviour” following her maternity leave in 2018.
She alleges that a superior officer criticised her for taking maternity leave and then, it is claimed, he commented to Gaffey: “I suppose you thought you would get a consolation prize for losing your son.”
Gaffey submits that this alleged comment from her superior, was “discriminatory in nature in that it interfered with my utilisation of maternity leave and caused stress and distress”.
She further alleges that her complaint of bullying led to a data breach when an inspector received “sensitive category data, directly in contravention to assurances previously given to me”.
The sergeant complained of “bullying, harassing and dysfunctional behaviour”.
She submits that she took maternity leave again in 2020 and returned in October, to be informed that she was to be a Tusla liaison officer. She said she discovered that entries into the Garda system were already being processed under her name without her having taken up the post.
She submits that she was “intentionally undermined” in her role and in the fulfilment of her duties and was not provided with a phone or a computer to discuss sensitive cases at issue.
Gaffey submits that in 2024, she raised a complaint against a different superior officer regarding “repeated actions towards me intended to intimidate and cause upset and distress” by intervening in her work in a “hostile” manner.
The second officer was cleared of the allegation by an internal Garda panel but Gaffey alleged that information disseminated during the December 2024 process contained sensitive personal data that amounted to a breach of information “far beyond the parameters of the expectation of privacy in the context of the investigation”.
Gaffey submits that information involved in her complaint “included references to my mental health, professional challenges, and the death of my son”.
In June 2025, a Garda determination found that the officer had not engaged in any bullying or harassment of Gaffey but, it is submitted, did not adequately address her alleged data breach.
Gaffey appealed the June 2025 determination and submitted that the question of the alleged data breach was originally “entirely inadequate”.
She claims she has not received any determination regarding her appeal and this has not yet been delivered despite an extension of time from August 2025.
She submits that the alleged failure by the respondent to abide by its own timeline processes creates a breach of the Applicants Article 3 rights under the European Convention on Human Rights charter.
Gaffey submits that the lack of the appeal determination is contrary to fair procedures.
Judge Garrett Simons granted leave to seek judicial review and adjourned the matter to June.