Heated scenes as Cork City Council votes confidence in gardaí

THERE were heated exchanges and accusations of early electioneering as Monday night’s meeting of Cork City Council overwhelmingly passed a motion of full confidence in An Garda Síochána.

The motion, which passed by 27 votes to three, was tabled by Fine Gael councillor Shane O’Callaghan and followed on from another motion which he withdrew before it could be put to a vote.

In the motion withdrawn by Mr O’Callaghan, the Cork South-Central councillor had called for the council to condemn comments about gardaí posted by another councillor on X, formerly Twitter, last month.

When Mr O’Callaghan withdrew his motion condemning the post, his subsequent motion calling for a show of full confidence in the gardaí was debated and put to a vote.

Comments by People Before Profit-Solidarity councillor Brian McCarthy that An Garda Síochána were not fair or impartial and were “institutionally corrupt” were heckled, with shouts of “disgraceful comments”.

Workers’ Party councillor Ted Tynan said a shortage of garda numbers was adversely impacting upon community policing, saying successive governments had done little to address this.

Agreeing that garda numbers were negatively affecting policing in the city and An Garda Síochána was not a perfect organisation above criticism, Green Party councillor Oliver Moran said he was nonetheless voting in favour of the motion only “because to vote otherwise is worse”.

Several councillors voiced their appreciation of the work of An Garda Síochána, with those working in community policing being singled out for praise by many.

Labour Party councillor John Maher said gardaí did a job he would not do, and he supported the motion for “the man and woman guard on our streets”.

Describing the motion as “a Fine Gael special”, An Rabharta Glas councillor Lorna Bogue said Fine Gael, the party currently presiding over the Department of Justice, had “nothing but disrespect for the continued demands of the ordinary members of An Garda Síochána [but] feels entitled to showboat as the biggest friends of the gardaí locally”.

Fianna Fáil councillor Tony Fitzgerald said the support of the council for An Garda Síochána “should go without saying” and the message needed to go out that the council fully endorsed the force.

“That we have to discuss the possibility whether or not we have confidence in An Garda Síochána is a very sad night for this council,” he said.

His party colleague Terry Shannon said he had never in 25 years in the council seen such vitriol in the chamber, and asked whether some of it was connected to June local and European elections.

Mr O’Callaghan said after the meeting that he was delighted that his motion, which he said was in support of “the men and women of An Garda Síochána who every day put their lives on the line to protect the members of the Irish public”, had passed.

The motion was passed 27 to three, with Ms Bogue, Mr McCarthy, and Mr Tynan voting against.