A former garda at the centre of an investigation for leaking information to dissident republicans has been charged with assault following a pub brawl, the Sunday World can reveal.
The garda resigned from the force when the PSNI contacted Gardai to say the officer had been caught by an MI5 phone monitor providing information to a well-known terrorist.
The ex-cop is accused of giving information about two dissident republicans who had been arrested and held at a Garda station near the border.
It is not believed that the officer had access to details about what the pair said while they were in custody but was able to give the names and addresses of the arrested men as well as how long they had been in custody.
The fact there is an allegation that there was a tipping off of dissident republicans about the arrests, regardless of the quality of information provided, caused considerable disquiet among senior gardai.
The garda was approached and is understood to have resigned from the force when the allegations were made. The officer was also investigated after an ugly pub row and has been charged with assault along with a female companion.
The suspect had under ten years’ service and had frequently come to the associating with certain people outside of work.
One of these associates was arrested in relation to the Omagh bomb in 1998 in which 29 people were murdered.
The former cop has also been linked to a Continuity IRA member who has served sentences for bomb making.
Justice minister Frances Fitzgerald has ordered a report into the incident.
