Independent TD, Carol Nolan, has said that the community consent model of policing is being eroded because of the policing of asylum centre related protests, and that gardai are privately wondering how normalised community engagement can return given the prospect of more than “ten thousand plus IPAS applicants arriving annually”.
The Laois Offaly TD called on both the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and the Minister for Justice Helen McEntee to “address concerns that the model of policing by consent, as laid down for An Garda Síochána in its own Policy Documents, is being eroded and undermined by ongoing confrontations between members of the force and members of the public who wish to peacefully protest about the presence of IPAS accommodation centres in their locality”.
Deputy Nolan said that scenes in Newtownmountkenndy, in particular, are allowing a perception to take root that the majority of rank and file gardaí are indifferent to community concerns.
This, she said, could “completely destabilise the enormous benefits that have been nurtured through consistent and positive community engagement.”:
“I am deeply alarmed at the direction in which the entire situation around policing at IPAS related protests is heading,” said Deputy Nolan.“I am also extremely worried by footage in which an accredited female journalist who identified herself as such was apparently been pepper sprayed by Gardaí.”
“We know from the Garda Decision Making Model policy document and indeed from our everyday experience, that policing by consent is a core part of the Gardaí’s guiding philosophy.”
“Indeed, within that document it is explicitly stated that decisions about how Gardaí operate must take account of community needs and expectations and the impact of any decision on the community.”
“It goes on to say that working collaboratively to build positive working relationships focussed on addressing issues of concern for communities should be a primary concern for all Garda personnel.”
“I could not agree more with those statements. However, we are now at a point where a perception is taking hold that the primacy of that concern is being subordinated to a policy of intimidation.”
“I know from my own engagement with rank-and-file gardaí that the very last thing they want to be doing is confronting the women and children and men who want to voice their peaceful concerns. They abhor the level of division and animosity this is creating.”
“Indeed, many gardai are privately wondering how it will even be possible for a normalised version of community engagement to return given the fact that we are looking at a decade and more of ten thousand plus IPAS applicants arriving annually.”
“I am urgently appealing for calm and a sense of proportionality as the situation is ripe for deterioration, and that is something which must be addressed urgently by both the Commissioner and the Minister,” concluded Deputy Nolan.
Footage from Newtownmountkennedy on Thursday night showed clashes between a local protest and the riot squad, where pepper spray was used on protesters. Gardaí said in a statement that they had been attacked and had responded accordingly. .
Chaotic scenes at Newtownmountkennedy tonight as a local protest opposed to immigration centre clashed with gardaí who deploy riot shields and pepper spray pic.twitter.com/S0B8LfFQK7
— gript (@griptmedia) April 25, 2024
Yesterday, the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, rejected suggestions that the actions of the gardaí were “heavy handed”.
“It’s not a heavy hand at all. This is a graduated response to what we believe are reasonably foreseeable policing demands that we are going to face here,” Mr Harris said, adding that there were rising tensions and a risk of violence.
“We have to be in a position to protect ourselves and to protect those conducting legitimate business,” he said.
Taoiseach Simon Harris, who is a TD for the area, said that gardaí are “charged with upholding the laws of the land and they should be supported in doing so”.
“This is a country of laws. Attacks on gardaí should be condemned by all,” he said.
However, in a statement, local protesters said it was a “disgrace” that the Government had “bullied the people of Newtownmountkenneddy to force a hugely unpopular immigration policy on them”.
They said that government ministers and senior gardaí would be wheeled out to say the events in Newtownmountkennedy “were a disgrace and should never have happened.”
“They are right. It is a disgrace that the government bullied the people of Newtown to force a hugely unpopular immigration policy on them. They will tell us that the wearing of balaclavas is intimidating. Again, they are right – and the people of Newtown were actively intimidated by the gardai forcing balaclava clad drivers and workers at 2am onto a site where there had been a peaceful protest held for the last six weeks.”
“In fact we will be told all manner of things and offered mock expressions of outrage to divert us all from the actual issue – that this government is using its police force to bully an immensely reckless and unpopular immigration policy onto its citizens. So please, do ask why this happened in newtownmountkennedy and do ask why they will not listen to the citizens of Ireland,” they said.