Harris: Gardaí must be involved in planning of asylum centres to avoid repeat of Coolock disorder

Drew Harris: Investigations into 'online threats and harassment' of gardaí. Picture: Sam Boal 

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has said that gardaí must be included in discussions regarding future asylum centres in order to avoid any repeat of the violence and disorder at Coolock last Monday week.

Commissioner Harris also said that investigations are under way into "online threats and harassment" of individual gardaí involved in policing on the day.

He told the Policing Authority that he was “carefully examining” proposals from the Garda staff association, which he met yesterday, about providing protective headgear to uniformed frontline members when confronted, as at the Coolock protest, with missiles being thrown at them.

An update sent by the Garda Representative Association to its 11,000 members said there was “an element of consensus” at the meeting with the commissioner.

“We made the point that our members on duty were left exposed and endangered by decisions taken on the day and that the delay in the deployment of the public order unit in support was unacceptable," the update said.

The lack of adequate safety equipment to protect our members and in particular riot helmets for uniform members was also highlighted by us. All of our views and concerns were taken on board.

At a public meeting with the Policing Authority, Mr Harris said that, in order to avoid a repeat of the “very ugly and very violent” scenes on the Malahide Rd, gardaí had to be involved in the “preparation and planning” of asylum accommodation centres.

He said Garda HQ will be working with other agencies and Government departments to ensure lessons are learned.

He said gardaí were sometimes presented with a situation of “this is what’s happening” on a planned asylum centre, but that gardaí needed to be involved much earlier, in terms of ensuring they had the necessary policing resources.

Drew Harris said the disorder in Coolock might warrant a 'change in our tactics, but not in our broad strategy'. Picture: Colin Keegan/Collins

Mr Harris said the disorder in Coolock might warrant a “change in our tactics, but not in our broad strategy”.

He said the first sign of protest last Monday week was at 8.15am, with signs from 10am onwards that the situation could turn ugly, followed by the arson attack and assault on a member of security.

He said the call was made to scramble the public order unit and that in the meantime uniformed gardaí came from across Dublin. He said that by 1pm public order units were on the street.

Asked by authority member Paul Mageean about uniformed members being “left defenceless” until 1pm, Mr Harris said public order unit members had to be drawn from across Dublin, return to their stations, get their protective equipment, and get out to Coolock.

Assistant Commissioner Cliona Richardson said she was informed that the situation had escalated at around 10.30am and started alerting people to get there, then at 11.45am made the formal call for the public order unit.

Commissioner Harris also warned that far right activists in Europe and America are getting involved in anti-immigration protests in Ireland.

“There is an international element and organisation to this and that leads into Europe, but also the UK and the USA as well, so that is an active element," he said. "And you can see that on social media.”

He said foreign agitators were trying to get involved here.

I would say there are actors who are trying to influence what’s happening here in Ireland.

"Ireland has become a centre of attention because of incidents like Coolock and they are seeking to further foment that and to provide their advice in terms of your tactics, what you should do next, your tactics for dealing with law enforcement, as they might say.”