GRA REBUKE HIGGINS REMARKS AS 'ILL-INFORMED' AND 'OPPORTUNISTIC'.  
22 November 2005: 

The Garda Representative Association today condemned last night's comments by Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins in relation to the death of John Ward as 'inflammable' and 'opportunistic'. The comments were made on RTE's Questions and Answers Programme.  “Mr Higgins stated that if Gardaí had executed warrants relating to John Ward, then the tragedy involving him and Padraig Nally might not have occurred and that John Ward would be alive today and Padraig Nally would not be in prison. Such a statement is totally ill-informed and scurrilous,” said GRA Deputy General Secretary John Healy. “To make such a throwaway comment without considering the complexities of resourcing within an Garda Siochana and the criminal justice system, is the mark of a marginal politician intent on making political capital on the back of a very tragic and deeply divisive affair and at the expense of the overstretched Garda force. It is not a given either that even if the warrants were executed, that Mr Ward would have been in custody and thereby preventing this tragedy.”

The GRA condemn Mr Higgin's assertions that the actions of Gardaí in some way contributed to the death of John Ward. “We are extremely worried that a marginal politician such as Mr Higgins could feel qualified to make these assertions about our members without being fully aware of the facts.”