Justice minister criticises sharing videos of Garda operation on social media
Gardai cordon off a housing estate and monitor the situation from the air during a standoff with an armed man at a house in Blanchardstown, Dublin on Tuesday night. Photo: Damien Storan.
The justice minister says she will raise the issue of videos of ongoing Garda operations being shared on social media.
Heather Humphreys made the remarks in the context of the stand-off in Blanchardstown on Tuesday evening in which two gardaí were injured in a shooting.
While a media blackout was requested by gardaí from early in the evening, videos of the incident were being widely shared on social media outlets for hours. The media blackout was eventually lifted after 10pm.
Speaking in Dublin on Wednesday, Ms Humphreys offered her best wishes to the injured gardaí and said that if changes are needed to address the issue of videos circulating online, discussions will take place with social media companies.
Ms Humphreys thanked the mainstream media for respecting the blackout, which she said was very helpful to gardaí.
"We've had very good conversations with the social media companies," the minister said.
"This is something that I will raise, but we do need to make changes. There's something we can improve upon; I'm happy to bring that forward."
Gardaí were alerted to the incident in Whitechapel Grove in Blanchardstown shortly after 7pm. Plainclothes and uniform gardaí responded, supported by armed support units.
After arriving at the scene, an armed plain-clothes unit at the scene came under fire.
The Garda members took cover behind a patrol car and an exchange of firearms occurred between the male and the armed detectives. The patrol car was struck a number of times by bullets.
The two male detective gardaí, who were in their 30s, received gunshot wounds to the foot and one also received a hand wound. Both are being treated in hospital.
Gardaí established a cordon and evacuated a number of houses in the area.
After a period of negotiation between gardaí and a man in the house, two firearms, an automatic pistol and a handgun were surrendered.
A short time later a male, in his late 30s was arrested at the scene and is currently detained at Blanchardstown Garda Station under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act 1939.
Gardaí at Blanchardstown continue to investigate all the circumstances of this critical firearms incident.
As the incident involved the discharge of official Garda firearms the incident has also been referred to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission.
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