Gardaí delay decision on charges against water protesters

Gardaí have yet to decide on how to proceed with charges against up to 25 water charge protesters, including TD Paul Murphy, three weeks after they got directions from the DPP to prosecute.

It comes as senior gardaí yesterday played down reports of a “spying” operation, led by the commissioner’s husband, on water charge demonstrators, including Mr Murphy.

The Socialist Party TD, along with two party deputies, have written to Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald demanding clarification on the existence and purpose of the police unit.

The Irish Examiner understands the DPP’s direction to bring charges in relation to November’s protest in Jobstown, Dublin, has got bogged down as layers of Garda management deliberate over how to proceed.

The State prosecutor ordered that up to 25 people be charged in connection with the incident, during which Tánaiste Joan Burton and her adviser Karen O’Connell were detained in their car for over two hours by protesters.

The DPP authorised that Mr Murphy, TD for Dublin South West, be charged with false imprisonment, and that charges be taken against Socialist Party councillors for Tallaght, Mick Murphy and Kieran Mahon.

A number of protesters face charges of violent disorder or criminal damage, both of which can attract sentences of up to 10 years.

Garda management has been deliberating for the last three weeks as to how to execute the charges: Whether by arrest at the homes of the protesters; by inviting them to their local Garda station; or by way of a summons to appear in court on a future date.

Meanwhile, security sources yesterday played down reports that a police unit — headed by commissioner Noirín O’Sullivan’s husband — was “spying” on water protesters, including Mr Murphy. One source said the team was gathering Garda reports from local districts on water protests and compiling intelligence on certain activists — particularly those arrested and against whom files would be prepared for the DPP. The source rejected that it was “a spying operation”.

A second source said Operation Mizen, headed by Detective Superintendent Jim McGowan, had a wider brief than just water protests and examined “open source intelligence” on social media sites regarding “unlawful activity” around public protests or VIP visits.

“It’s not Big Brother tapping into Paul Murphy’s phone or seeing what he is doing,” the source said.

Meanwhile, the Defence Forces have declared a letter containing a suspicious material, sent to the constituency office of Environment Minister Alan Kelly, to be “a hoax”.

It comes as a national anti-water charge rally takes place in Dublin today.