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No criminal charges taken against gardaí after water protest complaints

The garda watchdog received 40 complaints in relation to the policing of water protests and the installation of water meters.

29/8/2015. Anti Water Charges Campaigns Protests Water protesters pictured outside O'Connell Street in August last year Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

THERE WAS INSUFFICIENT evidence to take criminal or disciplinary action against gardaí in relation to the policing of water protesters, a new report has said.

Gsoc’s 2015 annual report notes that it received 40 complaints relating to the policing of water charge protests and the installation of water meters in a period between September 2014 and August 2015. 

Most of the complaints were over allegations of assault, excessive use of force, neglect of duty and abuse of authority.

Eleven of these, the watchdog reports, were not admissible for investigation as they were either anonymous or had come from people who had not witnessed the event.

As part of the policing of the protests, gardaí were issued with body cameras. The footage from these was later examined as part of Gsoc’s investigation.

The footage from these cameras and video posted to social media was the principal source of evidence for those investigating.

It was found that there was “no clear evidence of garda misconduct” in the majority of the videos, and in some cases it was shown that gardaí’s actions had been “proportionate”.

1/7/2015. Water Protests Block Dail Entrance Water protesters outside the Dáil in July last year Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

One file was forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions relating to a complaint of an assault on a female.

While the recommendation for a prosecution was not made, a disciplinary investigation by the Garda Commissioner into the action of three gardaí remained open at the end of 2015.

Total complaints 

Today’s report takes a broad look at the complaints received by Gsoc and the demographic of people making complaints against the gardaí.

In 2015, GSOC dealt with 1,996 complaints that contained 4,269 allegations against gardaí.

Today’s report notes that these follow a similar pattern to previous years, with around one-third relating to neglect of duty, and around one-third to abuse of authority.

When it came to garda divisions that the most complaints were made about, the following came up most frequently:

  • The Dublin Metropolitan regions, 
  • Kilkenny-Carlow
  • Galway, 
  • Donegal,
  • Limerick. 

It should be noted that the frequency of complaints in these areas is mostly down to the fact that they’re larger or busier divisions – and not necessarily because these areas draw a higher number of complaints.

Who complains to GSOC? 

When it comes to which age groups complain about gardaí to Gsoc, it’s a pretty even spread, with a slight drop off after the age of 50.

age

When looking at the employment status of those who make complaints, a disproportionately large number of unemployed people (25%) were seen to make complaints to the body, compared with the national rate of unemployment (around 9%).

Overall, Gsoc noted that last year there were “improvements in efficiency and dialogue and cooperation with the Garda Síochána”.

Read: Twitter accounts linked to detective garda used to mock Clare Daly after arrest

Also: Twin sister of Mary Boyle to complain to GSOC over leak to The Star

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    Mute Daniel Morrissey
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    Apr 17th 2021, 12:20 AM

    Roll on the 26th change…. yawn…

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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Apr 17th 2021, 12:56 AM

    @Daniel Morrissey: lol. I know how you feel. How many bloomin people over 65 are in the country. They seem to go on forever hahaha

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    Mute Peter McGlynn
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    Apr 17th 2021, 1:12 AM

    @Anna Carr: I don’t know how many. How many people voted Fianna Fáil? In or around that amount.

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    Mute Ger
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    Apr 17th 2021, 3:06 AM

    @Anna Carr: it literally tells you in the article

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    Mute Paul Gorry
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    Apr 17th 2021, 3:16 AM

    @Ger: ah lighten up ger her comment was tongue in cheek jayus what are you not seeing there?

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    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
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    Apr 17th 2021, 5:13 AM

    @Daniel Morrissey: well yeah, can’t make them deliver it faster or make it ourselves so that’s what we have to do.

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    Mute Anto Curran
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    Apr 17th 2021, 8:00 AM

    @Peter McGlynn: obsessed with FF. Unless you’re playing an online game where you can try to fit FF into every comments section?

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    Mute Barbara Stewart
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    Apr 17th 2021, 11:55 AM

    @Anna Carr: Sorry for being 69 and delaying your vaccination….I could have said the same about all over 70s but I have a bit more respect!!!

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    Mute Tony Humphreys
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    Apr 17th 2021, 1:54 AM

    You lost me at the word ‘plan’. I always thought they there was only one plan – lockdown. Why do something when you can get away with nothing.

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    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
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    Apr 17th 2021, 5:14 AM

    @Tony Humphreys: well you thought wrong and then refused to think about it anymore

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    Mute Keith Richardson
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    Apr 17th 2021, 1:54 PM

    @Dave O’Keeffe: well there is no published plan on reopening. I’m sure there’s one on a desk somewhere. If people were treated like adults and told this then there would be increased confidence.

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    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
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    Apr 18th 2021, 5:32 AM

    @Keith Richardson: no, if there was a widely publicised plan with an unpredictable pandemic and unreliable delivery schedules any changes would undermine the confidence you claim it would bring.

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    Mute Tarraing Mo Liathróidí
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    Apr 17th 2021, 8:02 AM

    The fact we still likely won’t restart tourism and hospitality till June or July is just mind boggling, especially given the fact MM despite some who said it was lies when I pointed out that leaky Leo said the same thing, that he can’t say we won’t go into another lockdown after this one. And given the fact the hse management seem to have done nothing except allow the waiting list balloon and get themselves a pay rise, any extra surge from even a few covid cases over the winter months makes this likely since they now have a great excuse to cover up they barely cope any winter before covid hit. So this means a lot of small businesses and retail included as well may only have a small window to open and make some much needed money, meanwhile north will be full steam ahead open end of May.

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    Mute Siobhan Rosemary
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    Apr 17th 2021, 8:35 AM

    So the AstraZeneca isnt safe to use on under 60s but is safe for under 60s who received 1st dose?? Think il pass on the second thanks. Back of the que I go lol

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    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
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    Apr 18th 2021, 5:34 AM

    @Siobhan Rosemary: that silly. 1 in a million died of a blood clot that nobody knew to be looking for. That’s different now. 12 in a million died of covid here and doctors were definitely looking for it.

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    Mute K Flan
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    Apr 17th 2021, 11:26 AM

    2 more weeks to flatten the curve

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    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
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    Apr 18th 2021, 5:35 AM

    @K Flan: the curve is flattened. Sadly the base rate is still over 300 cases per day.

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    Mute Sean Callan
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    Apr 17th 2021, 7:26 AM

    Boring boring boring all this lot has to offer

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