Gardai have claimed there was "no security incident" involving Commissioner Drew Harris following reports that his jeep was flung into the air after smashing into a barrier last month.
It had been reported that an officer on watch at Garda headquarters in the Phoenix Park, Dublin had hit an emergency button to activate a barrier which shot up from the ground to stop the chief's unmarked PSNI jeep entering the depot.
Ireland’s top cop would normally be picked up at the border by a Garda Emergency Response Unit but on this occasion armed PSNI officers had brought him all the way to Dublin.
However the force has now claimed that a bollard had "malfunctioned" in the incident, and that the issue was "quickly fixed".
A Garda spokesman said: "There was no security incident at Garda HQ on March 25, 2019.
"A newly installed bollard malfunctioned and caught the underside of the vehicle the Commissioner was travelling in.
"This happened at a walking pace. No vehicles were flipped.
Garda Commissioner was driven in line with 'normal procedures' when PSNI jeep crashed at Garda HQ
"The malfunction was quickly fixed and vehicular traffic went in and out of Garda HQ as normal that day.
"As per our previous statement, normal movement procedures were followed in relation to the Commissioner.”
