GRA says lack of equipment and training an issue for gardaí

Vivienne Clarke

The president of the Garda Representative Association, Brendan O’Connor, has said that the findings of a Policing Authority review into the riots in Dublin in November were not surprising.

The review found that there were communications failures on the night and that garda commanders in the central control room could not communicate directly with members of the Public Order Unit responding to disturbances and looting because they did not have earpieces.

The lack of equipment and training was “a bread and butter” issue about which the GRA had been campaigning for years, he told Newstalk Breakfast. “A lack of training, a lack of equipment, shortfalls in equipment and a lack of an overall plan.”

Policing was about being prepared “for what may reasonably occur”, he said. There had been major shortfalls in the basics of policing in Ireland which needed to be addressed.

"The equipment available to An Garda Siochana was inadequate and not up to the same standard with what was issued across the world.

"It was not acceptable that members were “relying on informal networks of communication, that they don't know at the time actually what is proper communications protocol, what channel they should go on. The people in control rooms, they don't know what resources to have available.

"So absolutely, I hate to use the word, but it's frightening for the public. But it's shambolic and it's something that we would have protected. That's something that we think can be addressed. But again, our calls often fall on deaf ears.”

"The force could have the best equipment and communication system in the world, but if people were not trained properly then they were going to fail in an emergency situation. There needed to be ongoing training to update knowledge of the system."

The new system was not being used to its full potential, he said, as had been seen in November during the riot. “God forbid we're dealing with something like a terrorist attack where lives are at risk. And this is a thing that we need to address.”