Ex-council foreman: Gardaí had Uzi guns trained on me

A former council foreman has recalled how members of the Armed Response Unit trained their Uzi machine guns on him during a five-hour stand-off four years ago.

At an Employment Appeals Tribunal in Ennis, Co Clare, yesterday, Joseph Floyd Sr admitted to threatening a garda with a can of petrol as he sat in a van blocking off council contractors commencing a roads job at Feakle.

Mr Floyd said he carried out his protest on May 13, 2010, due to safety fears he had over the council hiring sub-contractors; a council commitment that it wouldn’t hire contractors for such works; and a failure by senior officials to talk with him over his concerns.