Judge criticises gardaí for informality of undercover drugs operations

Mr Justice Alan Mahon made the remarks in a judgment of a case where a 25-year-old man was convicted of selling cannabis to undercover gardaí, The Irish Times reports.

He rejected the accused’s bid to have the Court of Appeal rule that the Garda operation contravened his rights under article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

However, he said: “In Ireland, the existence of a formal system for the authorisation and supervision of this type of undercover operation does not appear to exist.

“Such operations appear to be undertaken with a degree of informality which might reasonably be described as unsatisfactory.”

Mr Justice Mahon also said there needed to be “a greater degree of formality and record-keeping than currently appears to be the case”.