Scandal after Scandal, but how many Corrupt Cops before the courts? Now there lies the Question. People pay the costs for the Rogues. Why?

Investigations into garda malpractice scandals involving bugging allegations, corruption, false claims Roma children were abducted, seemingly lost evidence and failures to prevent high-profile crimes have cost taxpayers a massive €107m in the past decade.

The Department of Justice admitted the significant costs were accrued due to necessary state investigations into the controversies at the latest Dáil public accounts committee meeting yesterday.

Speaking during discussions with the cross-party body, the Department of Justice’s acting secretary general Noel Waters said throughout the economic crash the clear service shortfalls have seen badly needed funds diverted as part of necessary investigations.

However, despite insisting the costs occurred over “a lengthy period” and that there has to be a “balance on the public’s right to know”, he was heavily criticised by PAC chair and Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness over the scale of the scandals and the fact money is being taken away from where it is needed most.

According to the figures, over the past decade €107m has been spent on investigating crises in the garda service.

The nine reports include:

• €66m to date for the Morris inquiry, which is expected to cost €80m when it concludes. The report examined corruption among gardaí in Co Donegal and was published in October 2008.
• €11m for the Cooke inquiry, which examined serious allegations police watchdog the Garda Siochána Ombudsman Commission was bugged last year.
• €80,000 for the report into the wrongful claim by gardaí in autumn 2013 that a number of Roma children had been abducted by their innocent families as their hair and skin was a slightly different colour.
• €14.2m to date on the Smithwick tribunal, which is expected to cost €19.2m after a further €5m in third-party legal fees this year. The report found evidence of collusion between gardaí and the provisional IRA over the murders of two RUC officers in 1989, and was published in December 2013.
• €1.4m for the O Higgins inquiry into the findings of the Sean Guerin report. The ongoing inquiry is examining a raft of serious garda malpractice and failure claims between 2007 and 2010, including sexual assaults, lost evidence, corruption and other matters.
• €2.8m for the commission of investigation into the murder of a prisoner. The report examined the death of Gary Douch, a 21-year-old who was beaten to death in Mountjoy Prison after being left in a cell with another prisoner diagnosed with psychosis, and was published last year