A former garda jailed in July for inciting strangers to rape a colleague is to plead guilty to the unauthorised disclosure of Garda Pulse personal data on 14 individuals.
At Ennis Circuit Court on Tuesday, Judge Francis Comerford said Shane Flanagan (39), with an address in Ennis, Co Clare, had indicated his intention to plead guilty to charges before the court.
Counsel for the State, Sarah-Jane Comerford BL, confirmed this to be the case, stating Flanagan’s instructing solicitor had been in correspondence with the State solicitor for Clare, Aisling Casey, “to say that guilty pleas are forthcoming”.
Ms Comerford said, “These are serious charges”.
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The case against Flanagan – who resigned from the force in March – was listed for trial, and the trial is not now to proceed following the indication of guilty pleas.
Flanagan was brought by Irish Prison Service personnel from his prison on Tuesday to be arraigned on the Pulse charges before the court. The arraignment could not proceed after no solicitor or barrister appeared on Flanagan’s behalf.
Flanagan told the court he spoke to his solicitor last Friday.
Assisting the court, barrister Aaron Desmond said Flanagan did not seek legal aid in the District Court “but since then, Flanagan’s circumstances have changed and he is serving a lengthy prison term of seven years”.
Judge Comerford granted legal aid for solicitor Martin Cosgrove and two barristers to represent Flanagan and adjourned the case to Thursday for Flanagan to be arraigned.
Flanagan is facing 14 separate counts of disclosing personal data on the Garda Pulse Information system to another person on dates between January 12th and September 24th, 2020.
The charges relate to Flanagan disclosing the personal data without authorisation to another person of 14 separate people. Just their initials are provided on the charges in order to protect their identity.
The individuals’ initials are listed as LL, FS, LMc, RN, SH, DC, WS, LG, GL, NC, KR, KD, DD and IS. Mr Flanagan is charged under the Data Protection Act.
At the Central Criminal Court at the end of July, Ms Justice Eileen Creedon sentenced Flanagan to eight years in prison and suspended the final year.
The court heard that Flanagan impersonated a female colleague online and encouraged strangers to come to her house to rape her and her young daughters.
Ms Justice Eileen Creedon said that Flanagan showed a breathtaking disregard for the safety of his victims.
Flanagan admitted two counts of inciting two men to rape the woman, who had been a friend, on dates between November and December 2020.
Flanagan also admitted six counts of endangering the woman and her teenage daughters through his communications online, and he pleaded guilty to possessing four images of child sexual abuse material.
The court heard that Flanagan and the woman were both serving members of An Garda Síochána at the time. They were friends but had never had a romantic or intimate relationship.
