Garda Commissioner defends emergency unit

GARDA Commissioner Noel Conroy stood by the Emergency Response Unit yesterday, insisting he was very proud of the ERU.

“I don’t take criticism of them very lightly,” he said.

The commissioner the ERU had “put their lives on the line time and again” on behalf of the garda force and the Irish people.

Mr Conroy said the gardaí had moved on quite a bit since the Carthy shooting and the force now had a manual for scene commanders.

He hoped that recommendations made in the Barr report had already been taken on board as the gardaí had worked to ensure members of the force are trained to the recognised standard.

The commissioner said there would be days in the future when things would happen that cannot be planned for, but gardaí must ensure best practice and that was his aim.

He revealed that a new executive leadership course was starting in the force in September and the gardaí have made submissions to the Department of Justice regarding non-lethal weapons.

Meanwhile, Garda Representative Association (GRA) general secretary PJ Stone said training issues raised in the report would be discussed with garda management.

“The death of John Carthy was a tragic incident. But, equally, our members had to make a split-second decision on the day. And you must remember that while Mr Barr had two years to look at this, our members had to make a decision on the day.

“If there are lessons to be learned, then obviously lessons will be learned. But you must remember and take into account that our members, like any other profession, went to work and had to take a decision to end somebody’s life. That is not an easy thing to do.”

Mr Stone said, in the past, the association had asked that gardaí be equipped with pepper sprays and it was not the GRA’s problem that these kind of issues had not been addressed.

He said he regretted a finding that two gardaí assaulted John Carthy two years before his death.

Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) general secretary Joe Dirwin welcomed the publication of the report.

He said they would work with garda management on issues of training raised by the report.

“Hopefully if there are lessons to be learned, they will be learned so there isn’t a repeat of this in the future,” he said.

He said no member of the garda goes out to work purposefully to kill or injure a member of the public.

He said morale in the force was low and if the report led to more professionalism in the force they would welcome that.