Gardaí frustrated by 'late notice' of new centres for asylum seekers 

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said there was no evidence of an 'invisible or guiding hand' behind the arson attack in Galway. 

Garda bosses said they are still getting “very late” notice from government officials about the location of intended accommodation centres for asylum seekers, which is preventing them from putting in place security arrangements.

In relation to the Ross Lake House Hotel in Galway, which was gutted in an arson attack on Saturday, gardaí only learned from local councillors — and not from any government official — on Friday that it was going to take up to 70 international protection applicants.

Both Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and Deputy Commissioner for Policing and Security Anne Marie McMahon spelled out their continuing frustration over being excluded from relevant information in a public meeting with the Policing Authority.

Ms McMahon said it was of “critical importance” that they were kept in the loop as gardaí have an obligation to keep people safe and prevent “anti-immigrant” sentiment or activity from developing.

Commissioner Harris said gardaí “obviously have a duty to prevent crime” and provide crime prevention advice to individuals, including owners of properties.

The garda chief also said there was no evidence of an “invisible or guiding hand” behind the arson attack from the “nebulous” far right. He said it was probably local individuals that were involved, pointing out that detections of previous similar attacks also involved locals, driven by “misinformation” and “prejudice”.

He added that while there has been a “small” number of criminal damage prosecutions in relation to attacks on accommodation centres, they have been taken and pointed to the “seriousness” of Saturday’s attack, which involved the “almost complete destruction of the premises”.

He said that the far right in Ireland is a catch-all expression for people with “very disparate set of views” and that society should be careful about blaming the far-right for everything, saying the individuals concerned “take succour” for being described as having such power;

He said that claims that asylum seekers are linked to higher levels of crime “should be debunked” as they were based on “lies and falsehood”. He said there was “no correlation” and that international protection centres give gardaí “very little policing issues” and that asylum seekers just want to rebuild their lives;

Ms McMahon told the authority that notification about asylum accommodation centres comes “invariably late in the day”.

She said: “It’s a constant challenge, I have to be honest. And certainly, if we take the events that occurred at the weekend, that was certainly very late and notification came through an informal route.”  

She said that the opportunity to carry out a risk assessment was “very limited” without prior notification.

Authority chair Bob Collins expressed his disappointment at this.

In relation to an initial report on the Dublin riots on 23 November, Assistant Commissioner Paul Cleary told the authority that 186 gardaí had responded to a questionnaire about the riots and that one of the biggest issues was in relation to communications and that members of the public order units didn’t have earpieces in their helmets and had to rely on verbal orders from superiors near them.

He explained that only nine of the 186 gardaí flagged issues relating to their competence in using force, contrary to previous reports that gardaí were afraid to use their batons for fear of being investigated by Gsoc.

He added that a community impact assessment found the riots had a “medium” impact, but that this included a “high” impact on migrants and minorities Commissioner Harris said “no intelligence system” could have forewarned the riots, but said AC Cleary’s initial report would be followed by a full review.