The High Court has granted a stay on a notice of dismissal against a garda, whose discharge from the force was seen as “necessary to maintain public confidence” after he was convicted of assaulting his then spouse in 2012.The dismissal was due to come into force at one minute before midnight on Wednesday.Former Det Gda Trevor Bolger is taking his case against the commissioner of An Garda Síochána and seeks an order quashing the notice of dismissal issued earlier this month under Section 41 of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024.In April 2025, Bolger, with an address listed at his solicitors’ office at Arran Quay, Dublin 7, pleaded guilty before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to a Section 2 assault on his former spouse, who was also a garda at the time.Last January he was given a three-month sentence, which was fully suspended, subject to conditions.Following the conviction, it is submitted by his lawyers, Bolger’s former spouse engaged in a “media campaign demanding the applicant’s dismissal from An Garda Síochána”.Last February, the commissioner’s office then wrote to the applicant informing him that his dismissal was “necessary to maintain public confidence”.It is submitted by Bolger’s side that “agents” on behalf of Bolger then wrote back to the commissioner saying they were aware of other cases in which members were allegedly convicted of assault, assault causing harm and other serious offences, who – while sanctioned – were not the subject of dismissal.The letter sought details of any such person for the purpose of making comparator submissions to the commissioner, but the request was refused.[ Garda suspensions more than double as accusations of abuse riseOpens in new window ]Bolger, who is now a regular Garda under suspension, took a judicial review challenging the notice to dismiss him through his barrister Mark Harty, appearing with James Kane, instructed by Seán Costello Solicitors.Bolger’s legal team successfully argued for a stay on his dismissal.Harty submitted in an ex parte High Court application – where only one side is represented – that his client sought a prohibition restraining the Garda Commissioner from continuing the process of dismissing the applicant, which was issued on May 6th, 2026.It is submitted that in the “immediate aftermath” of the incident the applicant sought “urgent psychological and psychiatric care” and consented to a barring order.It is further submitted the incident was known to An Garda Síochána from November 2012 and that Bolger accepted he would have to move station and be returned to uniform duties.Harty submitted that the commissioner acted “not properly” in dismissing Bolger and that the process enacting the dismissal was “unlawful and unsustainable”.[ Limerick driver who was ‘steaming drunk’ when he killed motorist jailed for seven yearsOpens in new window ]Counsel submitted “the circumstances have not shown to be sufficiently unusual, extreme, or exceptional” to warrant the dismissal under the relevant section of the Act.He submitted the “apprehended lack of public confidence is not rationally grounded in evidence” and there is “an absence of a pressing public concern arising from the critical need for the maintenance of public confidence in the force”.It was further submitted that requested comparator cases had not been supplied to Bolger and there was no evidence that established disciplinary procedures could not continue in place of any dismissal notice.Counsel submitted that his client had no right of appeal from the decision to have him dismissed and was forced to seek judicial review.Judge Sara Phelan granted permission to challenge the dismissal decision and put a stay on dismissal proceedings until July 14th.