Garda Commissioner: Rightwing extremism ‘lapping our shores’

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris says there is evidence that the rise of rightwing extremism seen abroad had started to “lap upon our shores”. He said the Garda would be finalising by the year’s end an implementation plan regarding the investigation of hate crime.

His comments come on the back of mounting concern at comments targeting minority groups, including migrants and asylum- seekers, by certain local and national politicians as well as by some individuals.

Speaking at the Policing Authority, the commissioner said the Garda had recently launched its definition of hate crime and that they would create an implementation plan regarding the investigation of hate crime.

He said he wanted to standardise the garda approach and improve the service. He said they would be looking to third-party reporting and online reporting to get more reports of hate crime.

“I am concerned, and there are concerns right across Europe, about the rise of right-wing extremism. We are not going to be immune from that and we can see evidence of it starting to lap upon our shores and so our response to hate crime, our response to extremism, is a very important plank in that,” he said.

“It’s an area that benefits from setting out the standards and making sure supervisors do their job and inspectors ensure things are done to a standard that is appropriate for a crime that can have a very debilitating effect on the victim.”

At the last public meeting of the authority chaired by Josephine Feehily, who is soon coming to the end of her term, the commissioner praised the chairwoman for her four years of public service.