A woman is suing the former head of the Garda National Protective Services Bureau in the High Court over an alleged incident from when he was a serving garda.
Ex-detective chief superintendent Declan Daly’s resignation from the board of women’s charity Ruhama last year was notified to the CRO five days after garda investigators interviewed him over matters related to his time in An Garda Síochána.
Daly was listed as holding a senior position at Cybersmarties, an Irish tech company, until yesterday. His profile was removed from the Cybersmarties website less than 24 hours after The Ditch asked the Limerick-based company if it still employed Daly.
Daly’s solicitor confirmed to The Ditch that the ex-garda denies the woman's allegations against him and will defend the High Court proceedings she initiated earlier this month.
Interviewed by garda investigators
Declan Daly, 57, joined An Garda Síochána around 1990 and worked in several specialist roles before being appointed head of the new Garda National Protective Services Bureau (GNPSB) in 2015.
The unit is mainly tasked with handling sexual crimes.
Daly was one of eight candidates considered for three assistant garda commissioner vacancies in the force, according to the Irish Examiner.
He retired from the gardaí in 2022 and took up a role with Cybersmarties. He was appointed as a director of the women’s charity Ruhama in April that year. Six months later domestic abuse charity Aoibhneas appointed him to its board.
Specialist gardaí interviewed Daly in June 2023 over matters related to his time in the force.
Five days after Daly’s meeting with garda investigators, Ruhama declared to the CRO that he had resigned as a director of the women’s charity. The resignation date given was 31 May, 2023. In August 2023, Aoibhneas notified the CRO that Daly had resigned as a board director in April 2023.
Earlier this month a woman launched High Court civil proceedings against Daly, the garda commissioner and the minister for justice.
The garda press office said it “does not comment on named individuals” and “matters before the courts”.
A Ruhama spokesperson said, “Declan Daly resigned from the board of trustees on 31 Maym 2023 having identified, due to increased personal workload, that he could not continue to commit to the time requirements necessary for the board. This is a common reason for directors resigning.”
Aoibhneas and Cybersmarties declined to comment.
