Limerick gardaí 'working in fear' after suspensions
Rank and file members from the Limerick division spoke out at the Garda Representative Association annual conference in Killarney about the effect the suspension of eight colleagues a year ago has had on them.
Gardaí in Limerick say they are afraid that they will end up being accused of breaking the law when dealing with the public.
Rank and file members from the Limerick division spoke out on Tuesday at the Garda Representative Association annual conference in Killarney about the effect the suspension of eight colleagues a year ago has had on them.
One member, Brendan O’Dwyer, broke down while addressing the conference.
“They are not just colleagues, they are friends," he said. "They are good friends, okay. This is hard. I spoke to a few of them, coming down last night. Lads, they are hurting. They are hurting bad, really bad. As I said, just as a friend for them, they are really dependent on us as a group to do our best for them.”
He urged colleagues at the conference to support a motion being brought by the Limerick branch seeking that a “full-scale review of the protocols and guidelines policy on the suspension of members of An Garda Síochána” be carried out by the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, in consultation with Garda associations.
The eight gardaí were suspended on November 7 last year as part of an investigation into the alleged squaring of road traffic offences.
They were suspended over alleged “corruption in public office". None of the officers has been charged.
Cathal O’Gorman of the Limerick division told the : “We are all afraid. If we are offered a cup of tea and a biscuit in someone’s house, are we breaking the law?”
He said the effect of the suspension of colleagues in the Limerick division is “weighing us down”.
He said communities are losing out on having “boots on the ground” and he questioned what is happening to crime files and court cases on which the eight gardaí were working.
Earlier Tuesday, he told the conference delegates: “On November 7, 2020, humanity died in An Garda Síochána with the suspending of our colleagues in the Southern region.
"One of the members suspended was back from work after a long illness for just three hours. Three hours she was back and she was suspended.
"Two more of these members were on sick leave after a Garda vehicle they were travelling in was struck by another vehicle while on duty and attempting to preserve life which is, of course, our duty and something we do without fear or favour day in day out.”
He said that the eight gardaí “have been stripped of their jobs, stripped of their dignity, stripped financially, and they have been left ostracised in An Garda Síochána”.
He also said their mental health was "in tatters".
Delegates gave him a standing ovation, with several speakers supporting the motion.
The most recent monthly report furnished by the Garda Commissioner to the Policing Authority, in October, stated that there were 81 members of the force on suspension across the country.
When contacted for comment, a Garda spokesman said: “The suspension of members of An Garda Síochána is governed by the Garda Síochána Discipline Regulations 2007, as amended. An Garda Síochána does not comment on statements made by the Garda representative bodies.”
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