Who sanctioned this fiasco? - Water charge opponents arrested

YESTERDAY’S arrest of Socialist Party TD Paul Murphy and three other anti-water charges protesters may just be the fillip the anti-water charges campaign craved.

The blundered introduction of water charges has been mired in appalling ineptitude, indecision, and prevarication. It was compounded yesterday, this time by the manner in which another arm of the State — An Garda Síochána — went about its business.

This newspaper has been highly critical of Mr Murphy in relation to the water charges protests, but did it really require SIX gardaí to arrest him at his home early yesterday? At a time when we are all too aware of manpower shortages in the force, would one or two officers not have sufficed, especially as Mr Murphy was unlikely to resist arrest aggressively? Socialist TD Joe Higgins described the dawn raid as “political policing”. While there is no evidence to indicate the accuracy of this accusation, it would be chilling for our democratic process if it were proved to be true.

Given the highly dubious arrest of TD Claire Daly for drink driving at a time when she was highlighting corruption in the penalty points affair, we should be vigilant and avoid complacency. So serious is the charge by Mr Higgins that both the Government and Garda management must address it; if they can refute it then they must. If they cannot do so then the obvious conclusions will be reached. The usual response about not commenting on individual cases won’t suffice.

This newspaper has recognised that, no matter how unwelcome the new tax is, water charges are part of restoring a dilapidated system. We were extremely critical of the protest in Jobstown involving Tánaiste Joan Burton and we were equally critical of attacks on President Michael D Higgins.

Every citizen of this state may protest but if that protest breaks a law then the courts will decide what action is appropriate. This Government has already lost one justice minister and if it is established that there was a political role in the decisions that led to yesterday’s hammer-and-nut fiasco, it may lose another — at least.