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GARDAÍ AT THE GRA conference have passed a motion demanding that all members are supplied with hard helmets and proper protective gear, saying that officers faced “assaults, abuse, being spat at and having implements thrown at them” during the Dublin riots last November.
Garda John Joe O’Connell, from the Kildare division of the Garda Representative Association, said that he was at home watching TV with his wife on the night of 23 November when he got messages from colleagues in Dublin who were struggling to police protests that became violent, and decided to go and help them.
“About 16 or 18 of us loaded into a Garda van in Naas and made our way in, there was no thought of what are my entitlements or what’s my shift, we were going to help our colleagues, end of story,” he said.
O’Connell explained that while some more senior gardaí had hard helmets that they were issued with over ten years ago, more junior members didn’t have any protective headwear, and went into the riots wearing soft caps.
“You wouldn’t walk into a building site without a hard hat, and yet our members faced assaults without one,” he said.
He described how his group navigated their way through “abandoned buses and vehicles” that were along the quays, before making their way to O’Connell bridge to assist their colleagues.
“It was quite amazing standing on a bridge beside a burned out double decker bus and a burned out patrol car. To see those things and know that you are there, exposed without the proper equipment, and proper training,” he added.
Karl Howard, a garda from the DMR South Central division, spoke about how one member attached to the division lost his toe in the riots, as a heavy object landed on his foot, and his protective boots failed due to a defect.
Howard said the garda is now back at work and “coming to terms with his injury”.
He said there were significant communication issues on the night of the riots as well, including that public order members on the front line wearing protective headgear couldn’t hear tactical commands coming in via their radios.
Howard said there has been talk of moulding an earpiece into helmets, but there has been no progress in securing them.
O’Connell described the actions of the 20 to 30 Store Street and Mountjoy area gardaí who responded to the chaos as heroic.
The riots broke out in the city centre after the attack of children and a creche worker on Parnell Square.
“They were the frontline, and after that there were 20 gardaí from Naas, gardaí from Sligo, we came from all over the country to assist.
“But this is really basic stuff. Give us the proper equipment and training and we will go out and keep the people safe in this country, that’s what we want to do,” he added.
The gardaí said that while they have received the stronger pepper spray that was promised after the riots by the Garda Commissioner, the delivery of other equipment has stalled, and the smaller shields that were to be introduced are not yet in wide use.
Early today the outgoing president of the GRA Brendan O’Connor said that if An Garda Síochána was a private organisation, it would be “under investigation” for sending gardaí out into a riot without the proper protective equipment.
The GRA conference is underway in Westport where motions are being passed on issues such as pay, pensions and use of force that will then shape GRA policy going forward.
The Minister for Justice Helen McEntee is not attending the conference this year because the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris was not invited, following a GRA vote of no confidence in him.
GRA members from many divisions have expressed the minister’s decision as disappointing, with GRA leadership saying she has missed an opportunity to hear from gardaí, and engage with them.
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I suppose if you want a free house you have to put up with a little hardship
@Sean Murphy: breaking news Dessie Ellis SF TD ,had a secret deal that allowed him to get full TD’s pay while all other SF TD’s were on industrial wage ,Ha Ha,SF the gift that keeps on giving
@Gerry O’Rourke: yeah i have see my comment below
@Sean Murphy: I’d also imagine they have a better education then yourself if you truly believe what you wrote. You do understand the meaning of being homeless??
when are people going to get it into their heads that social housing is not free to the tenant? People in social housing pay rents and maintenance fees, they also never have the benefit of using the home as an asset, can never use the home as collateral .
People who are working full time cannot afford to buy, the rents in the private sector are astronomical.
@Chris Hennessy: of course they can’t use it as collateral they don’t own it. True they aren’t free but by comparison they are practically free and very few people are being literal. Social housing is required but over used by people who expect the government to house them. Very few people are truly single parents but rather people who have split up. The other parent is obligated to provide for the child.
@Chris Hennessy: social housing is supposed to be for those in need, it shouldn’t be a lifestyle choice that you plan once your 18th birthday hits to have a kid and put your name on the housing list.
People seem to think that the government (ie other taxpayers) is responsible for providing a house in the capital city in an area of their choosing. This is just not feasible or sustainable.
@Chris Hennessy: What would they need to use the home as collateral for?
@Gerry O’Rourke: You might have missed the other news that day about a social welfare recipient wanting to post bail for her brother. When questioned about her “earnings” it was stated she would have to earn 120k a year to match her payments. That is very different from a person commiting fraud.
@Chris Hennessy:
The rent is far below the market cost so is basically free.
@Joseph Caulfield: maybe it’s reasonably priced and it’s tue private market which is out of whack?
@Chris Hennessy: compared to open market renting, it’s very cheap. And when da council decides to get shot of the house, the former tenant can buy it at a reduced rate. Those gaming the system have a long term strategy
Correct me if I’m missing something here, but if there’s 5508 adults registered as homeless, and 3,079 children, and the total who ‘woke up in emergency accommodation’ was 8587. What about those who were rough sleeping? Are they not ‘registered as homeless?’ or are they claiming everyone had a roof on Christmas eve?
@Pat Bateman:
Ireland just uses 3/7 Categories of ETHOS light Categories of homeless so eg women (1658 women&2349children in refuges) are not counted as homeless in Ireland unlike other European countries who include that Category(There were also 4831 unmet requests for refuge as refuges full!)
+the other excluded Categories!
Any caring functioning Democracy would assess the problem in full& not exclude Categories.
What harm. Our contribution to Europe is going up. Bankers debt is being paid back early. A couple of homeless here and there just a by product. Roll on the recovery….
Nearing 100 years of the successful governments of FF FG LIEBOUR…
@Willy Malone: Christmas in the Gresham hotel at tax payers expense,nice one
@Willy Malone: Whoever votes for fg/FF and are not worried for themselves now, try and see the bigger picture. If you think it’s bad now, wait until your kids try to move out.
I keep seeing lots of articles about the so say homeless and as someone who has been there (many years ago) for the majority I have little empathy. Am I cold hearted? Maybe I am!
The questions I have are: What bills are these people prioritising over rent/food? Why are they doing this? For the ones with children, what are they doing with their family allowance and do we need to change the system so that the money goes where it was intended in the first place (e.g rent/food/education/clothing)? If there truly is something that we as a society are missing which means people are falling through safety nets on a massive scale, what can we do as a society to change this? How do we educate people to feed themselves and put a roof over their heads on a budget? Alternatively, and I hate to say it but do we need to revert to a former way of doing things, for example, assessing peoples needs and figuring out if they’re “deserving poor”? There comes a point when tough love is required….let’s face it, rents are high(not extortionate though!) but most of these tenants aren’t paying property tax, they have no water bill, no sewerage bill, most likely live in a city so the majority can walk most places…what am I missing that ia costing them so much that they aren’t able to cater for the basics?
@Icant Spellwell: Family breakdown after my mother died meant I went into care for two years. At that time in England once a person was 18 unless they continued education they were out on their ear. I was in education but had an unhappy home life so I was pressured to leave…being 18 and head strong I left three days after my 18th birthday. From the suburbs I walked the 8 miles to town with no idea where to go and the first night wandered aimlessly. I actually slept under a bench in a place called Castle Park in Bristol.
I was quickly spotted in the morning by the homeless team in the city and taken and found a place to stay in a B&B. At that time they weren’t “nice” B&Bs there were very few standards – I.e the shower didn’t work, there was a woodlice infestation. I was given a little support and a small amount of money to get through the week (washing powder cleans everything!) and to cut a long story short was found a bedsit. The cost (1998) was £86.00 a week plus electricity/gas/shared water/sewerage/council tax. I found a job which was full time and paid £125.00 per week…things were tight. On the advice of the council I was told id be entitled to support with the rent so I should pay £40.00 a week and having filled out the relevant forms housing benefit would pay the remainder. I paid what I was told and did so for the next four months. The housing benefit was never paid in that time because if delays in processing…the next thing I knew I was served an eviction notice for non payment of rent (even though Id paid what I was told) and I was turfed out. At that point I was sofa surfing but people dont want other people on their sofa’s for long periods so the welcome runs out. I ended up back wandering the streets and heard through another person about a squat…thats where I ended up. In that time I lost my job (as I couldn’t maintain it being homeless) but quickly found another using an old address. Washing facilities were a local convenience. After a few months the housing benefit was calculated and it turned out I was actually ahead in rent payments and I was found a flat within a matter if days by the council.
There’s a lot more about the story but its not for this thread, however, since that time I can hand on heart say I have never missed a rent payment or claimed a benefit since…I have a major fear of having no roof over my head.
I understand, stuff happens…life isn’t easy and we all have our crosses to bear but from what im seeing in the news there are few Ive come across where I have an open heart…as I said, maybe Im cold hearted but I really struggle to understand why so many people are homeless.
Something is broken in the system and that’s not necessarily the governments fault, ive a feeling its societies. I think people have expectations which are beyond capacity. There has to be a facility to self help…or greater education as to facilities already out there….
(sorry, life story unnecessarily shared with the journal community but hey ho…!)
@Alan Walter Gallagher: Stop making sense will you please
Get this lot out at the next election. them along with their blueshirt independent cohorts.
@Sean Conway: it’s 7.45 slow on the comments front here, i guess the anti gov lot are still in the scratcher ,
@Sean Conway:
What do you think should be done other than provision of emergency accommodation?
@Sean Conway: true sean, but picking a political party in Ireland is like choosing to eat a bag of sh/te or a bag of vomit. Either way your going to end up sick
@Nick Allen: I’m sure FG knew what was coming down the road as far as housing was concerned. their solution was landlordism and a fire sale of property to vulture funds. taxpayers money into private pockets.
@Gerry O’Rourke: having a similar housing crisis in UK. Did FG cause that also?
Some people in hotel accommodation have refused house offered to them as it’s not where they want it(fact)…
If some people would go away and get educated and get a job.
I am really sick of this welfare class who want everything free.
“It’s not their fault they are homeless” Give over. I worked my arse off in school to get a good education and was able to go to college and get a degree to get a somewhat secure well paying job. A neighbour decided to live the life during school – did sweet F.A and ended up pregnant at 17 and in a home of her “own” at 19. Never worked a day in her life – claims to be a “full time mammy” while the father of the now 4 children in the house also doesn’t work and claims social all the time while doing his “nixers” getting tax free cash into the hand. They are driving a 2016 car, both smoke, in the pub every second or third night and have about 2/3 holidays a year – and they are paying for all that with the tax money of the workers. She gets her social welfare, child benefit for 4 children, single parent allowance, back to school, heating grants, the lot, he also gets the welfare as well as his “easy 2k a week if im arsed in boozer money” cash. Ridiculous. How is life fair that someone who works 40 hours a week, commutes to and from work each day and breaks their arse to keep a roof over their head have less money than people like this? How is that just?
The whole system is corrupt and just wrong on so many levels.
Of course there are people in social housing that deserve it – but the majority of them are spongers with the “why would I bother working when I can claim the scratcher for free” mentality.
Meanwhile I am struggling to pay for rent while I move up the job ladder and cannot start a family with my wife as we cannot afford the price of a child or an apartment bigger than a 1 bed in a Dublin satellite town. Makes me sick.
Call it what you will – jealousy, resentment, anger because truth be told it is all of those and more.
@YouHaveGotToBeJoking: I hear you, and those people disgust me, but don’t get distracted by the “hey look over there that guys stealing your pint” while they nick your wallet out of your pocket, the real thieves and gangsters in this country are the white collar criminals and tax avoidance specialists that cost you and me far more of our hard earned money than the likes of your neighbor.
I’m currently on a Dublin bus on way to Charlestown a.c. finals. Couple sitting beside me having a conversation I can’t help but over hear. Thwy have toddler maybe 2 with them saying that they are on route to new emergency accommodation and showing the child pics of where they will be staying for a while. Child keeps asking when are we getting our new house mother said hopefully when he new brother or sister comes. She doesn’t look pregnant. I don’t understand the situation as a whole but an eye opener all the same
A few days ago, Leo was telling everybody in the EU that ireland was just a small country of only 5 million people in the EU, more comparable to many EU cities than countries, and our incompetent gov still can’t fix our homeless crisis!
Of course when Leo comes back to Ireland, to defend the govs poor performance and on the homeless crisis, Ireland will be a much larger country, comparable with other EU countries. Same as the economic growth and unemployment figures arguments they try and fool us with, ie fastest growing economy in Europe, failing to mention it’s also probably one of the smallest!
If all these families are in hotels etc and not paying rent or bills then what’s all their social welfare / wages / child benefit etc going towards ? That’s some money accumulated over the space of a month alone ..
@Siobhán Ni Mhurchú: Food? You aware of any hotel that offers a kitchen attached to the room?
@Kerry Blake: you mean the food and dinners at at granny’s house ? .
De recovery is getting recoverier.
Congressionally it sounds like the lad wants to move back to his parents place as there is ample room by the sounds of it his partner snaps at him saying we’ve held out this long it won’t be more than a year with new barn. I just realisrd she English they were speaking in hush tones til he brought up going bqck to his parents and she bit the head off him..
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