A GARDA IN the South of the country has been suspended as officers investigate a domestic violence complaint against them.

The member serves in a station in the southern part of the country. 

It is understood that gardaí have advised the complainant that they can apply for certain legal measures to protect the alleged victim. 

People suffering domestic violence can apply for certain orders in court to help protect them – these orders then allow gardaí to arrest the alleged perpetrator if there is a breach of that order.   

It is believed that specialist gardaí who investigate such alleged crimes have taken a statement from the garda’s partner, who has made a number of serious allegations. Following their complaint, the garda was suspended.

In response to a detailed query, a garda spokesperson confirmed that a serving garda had been suspended.

“An Garda Síochána does not comment on ongoing investigations.

“A member of An Garda Síochána [has] been suspended from active duty,” a spokesperson said. 

Domestic violence

Detectives from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation have been investigating a number of complaints of domestic violence against gardaí.

The garda organisation has established a specialist investigation strategy to deal more generally with domestic violence offences. 

Operation Faoiseamh has seen Protective Service Units across the country dealing with a massive increase in reported incidents. 

In January it was revealed that criminal charges brought for alleged domestic abuse last year had increased by 13% to over 8,600.

New provisional figures released for 2021 show that gardaí responded to over 48,400 domestic abuse incidents last year, which is a 10% increase on 2020.

There were also over 4,250 criminal charges brought forward for alleged breaches of domestic abuse court orders.

Between 8 December 2021 and 7 January 2022, gardaí say that there were a total of 122 domestic abuse prosecutions commenced.

Figures released also show that there were 45,283 contacts and attempted contacts with victims of domestic abuse from 1 April 2020 to 7 January 2022.