Coroner urges change in how gardaí manage drunks

Major changes in the way that drunk people are dealt with by gardaí have been urged by a coroner.

They include amending the Public Order Act to allow gardaí to detain individuals for their own safety and the provision of defibrillators in all stations.

The recommendations follow the death of a 60-year-old man who died after being found in a collapsed state at a Galway garda station.

Seán O’Driscoll died at Galway University Hospital after being rushed there from Mill Street Garda Station in Galway city on November 20, 2011. He had inhaled his own vomit at a cell in the station and died of cardiac failure.

Mr O’Driscoll, of Market St, Galway, had been staggering and was incoherent when arrested and detained under the Public Order Act. But it emerged at his inquest in Galway the act does not contain a power of detention.

Only the Licensing Act of 1874, an “antiquated Victorian act”, according to West Galway coroner Ciaran MacLoughlin, contains such a power of detention.

“The problem for us and for the gardaí is, what happens when a person is in an intoxicated state. What does a garda do?

The coroner said breathalysers should be provided at Garda stations to assess the extent of alcohol intake in order to determine if medical attention is required. He also recommended the provision of defibrillators and

a hatch for checking on detainees.

The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, which investigated the death, is to bring the coroner’s recommendations to the appropriate authorities.

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