Gardaí can contain violent disorder, acting Deputy Garda Commissioner says

Vivienne Clarke

Acting Deputy Garda Commissioner Paul Cleary has said that he wants to reassure the public that gardaí were able to contain the violent disorder in Citywest on Monday night and to restore public order.

“We will be prepared for any future incidents of violence that might erupt,” he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.

"We will be relentless in our pursuit of those involved last night, and we will bring them to justice. We know that even though people may have been wearing hoods or masks, we still have the ability to identify them and bring them before the courts, and we would pursue that relentlessly.”

Deputy Commissioner Cleary said that when public safety was threatened, the garda response would be graduated.

When the protest in City West turned violent, which was unacceptable, he said, the public order response had graduated accordingly.

"You had everything from some peaceful protesters there. You had youths on horses, on scrambler motorcycles. You had violent thugs there who were there purely to incite violence and promote fear."

"We did have approximately 300 gardaí on duty, and I think that level of resourcing shows we had anticipated the potential for disorder and we were able to contain that violent disorder and restore order."

"Gardaí will always support and facilitate people's right to a peaceful protest, and I think we've shown that over the last couple of years. But what we witnessed last night went far beyond that protest. It was a violent riot driven by thugs intent on violence, and it wasn't just an attack on Gardaí, it was an attack on community safety, and we won't tolerate that," he said.

Meanwhile, the President of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI), Declan Higgins, has called for faster justice and stronger penalties for rioters.

“We do seem to have a problem with the justice system here in Ireland, that it takes too long,” he told Newstalk Breakfast radio show.

Mr Higgins was responding to events in Citywest on Monday night. “What happened in Saggart was deeply disturbing and absolutely appalling. Such scenes of Gardaí coming under such a stained, vicious attack are both shocking and absolutely unacceptable.

“It's a blatant assault on public order and to Irish society norms. And the safety of frontline gardaí doing their duty, being treated in such a manner, has to be condemned to the highest level.

“We'll be obviously calling for swift justice and strong deterrence for those involved in such attacks on gardaí. We'd also look for an immediate review of the kind of planning and obviously the deployment last night. Make sure we have constructive lessons learned so such things, if they ever do reoccur, that we are properly prepared for them.

"And obviously we'll be looking forward to action internally in An Garda Síochána to remove any obstacles to effective front-line policing, such as overtime caps, police deployment around the country with the current operating model. And obviously the numbers within An Garda Síochána, not only to recruiting new guards, but also retaining the experience that we have out there and to keep them there so they have that experience and keep that experience within An Garda Síochána.”

Mr Higgins said an immediate review of what happened on Monday night would assist in identifying and addressing any shortcomings.

“You always need to learn lessons. You'll always find shortcomings, and that is where the lessons and constructive lessons will be learned so you are more prepared next time.

“We saw last night there was deployment of the water cannon, but also we saw deployment of other units such as the mounted unit. We had the air support unit, and the resources are there.

"It may take some time to get them there, but they are there and available, and the training that the members received is, we believe, always has to be examined and re-examined, because each incident has to be taken on its own, but preparedness is always a thing we have to work on, but certainly it has to constantly be reviewed.”