Gardaí say ‘miracle’ no officers died in riots

THE organisation representing front-line gardaí has said it was a miracle that no officers were maimed or killed in Saturday’s riots.

The State's safety watchdog is to examine the garda management's handling of the violent weekend flare-up.

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) yesterday confirmed it was investigating a complaint from the Garda Representative Association (GRA).

The GRA, which represents rank-and-file officers, claims that the number of gardaí in place on O'Connell Street to deal with the riots was "totally insufficient".

GRA president Dermot O'Donnell yesterday said: "What our members have told me those that were injured, in hospital and others that I've met that were on duty on the day the common thread running through what all of them had to say is there simply were not enough gardaí on the streets."

Mr O'Donnell said it was "a miracle" no police officers were killed in the riots.

Commenting on why rioters were allowed to wreak havoc on O'Connell Street and bombard riot police with all sorts of missiles for more than two hours, Mr O'Donnell said the number of gardaí were "totally insufficient" to quell the problem.

"I don't intend to speculate on the matter but clearly it would be the case we would have needed maybe two, three times the number of members present that day to police the event properly," he said.

He asked whether garda management had carried out a risk assessment, and if they did, why did it "fail so badly".

A HSA spokesman said the GRA was claiming that there was no safety statement available for garda members to inspect on Saturday, which, legally, there should be.

"We have received a formal complaint from the GRA in relation to the safety statement not being available on Saturday. We are going to examine that complaint, ask garda authorities to show us the safety statement and examine it," he said.

A safety statement, which is based on a formal risk assessment, contains a breakdown of any possible risks associated with an event and procedures to deal with those risks.

The HSA spokesman said the question of whether a full-blown investigation would follow depended on what came out of this initial examination, but he would not speculate further.

However, it is understood that if no safety statement was conducted by garda management, it would be considered a very serious matter under health and safety legislation.

If there was a safety statement, HSA inspectors will examine it and determine whether it was sufficient for what unfolded during Saturday.

The HSA inquiries were launched straight away yesterday after the safety body received a formal complaint just before lunchtime from the GRA.

The HSA probe is thought to be the first examination by the body of work safety practices inside the Garda Síochána.

The authority has the power to investigate any workplace, including the gardaí.

Under legislation, their investigations can be modified if there are any "security concerns", such as secrecy covering garda operational matters.

However, it is understood that there do not appear to be any such concerns regarding this investigation.