Ms Anne Marie McMahon:

An Garda Síochána is delighted to be here this afternoon to discuss the very important issue of civil liberties during the Covid-19 pandemic. Human rights form the firmest foundation for delivering a policing service. That respect and confidence of the community is key to the delivery of our service. It is at the fore of all our policing considerations and decision-making processes. As guardians of the peace, safeguarding human rights has been central to the work of An Garda Síochána throughout this period.

An Garda Síochána’s mission is keeping people safe. Delivering on that mission has never been more important than during the Covid-19 pandemic. For many across society, the Covid-19 pandemic has been a public health crisis of new proportions. It continues to bring about exceptional challenges and that is no different for policing. As the crisis unfolded, An Garda Síochána adapted quickly and moved to deploy all available resources to provide reassurance to the public and ensure compliance with Government public health guidance and regulations. From the outset, Garda personnel have been working immensely hard under an enhanced, high visibility, national policing operation in response to the Government’s strategy to reduce the spread of Covid-19. An Garda Síochána has a long tradition of close community engagement. This has been vital during the Covid-19 pandemic. Together with statutory and voluntary bodies, An Garda Síochána engaged extensively with those who are most vulnerable in our community. Throughout this time members of the Garda have provided practical help and support to vulnerable people and contributed to their overall sense of safety. We are very proud of the strengthened connections that were built during the pandemic.

We also knew that due to the constraints on movement, victims of domestic abuse would be even more vulnerable. To tackle this we provided additional proactive support and protection to victims of domestic abuse as part of Operation Faoiseamh. This operation has led to thousands of contacts with victims of domestic abuse and over 200 directly-related prosecutions.

In parallel with this work, An Garda Síochána has continued to provide a policing service to the community focusing on disrupting and detecting organised criminal activity through intelligence-led operations. These operations have led to significant seizures of drugs and money.

As committee members will be aware, the Office of the Attorney General advises the Government of the constitutionality and application of proposed legislation where relevant to the work of An Garda Síochána. Therefore, as an institution of the Irish State, it is a duty of An Garda Síochána to apply the law in accordance with the principles of necessity, proportionality and accountability. In line with our tradition of policing by consent, An Garda Síochána has at all times adopted a graduated policing response to the enforcement of the Covid-related regulations. The Garda continues to prioritise engagement, explanation and encouragement, with enforcement as a last resort in what is known as the four Es strategy. When applying the four Es, members of An Garda Síochána were cognisant of the decision-making model. Under this model, decision-making must comply with the fundamental principles of necessity, proportionality and accountability, and be applied in a non-discriminatory fashion. Decisions to charge any individual with a breach of the Covid-19 regulations for almost all of 2020 were taken following consultation with the Director of Public Prosecutions.

In a rapidly changing environment, it was vital that our personnel, particularly front-line personnel, were kept informed of the powers available to them at any particular time. To ensure balance, reasonableness and consideration, a 24-7 Covid co-ordination office was established to provide advice and guidance to operational personnel around the clock. That was in addition to daily newsletters and other communication tools which provided clear instructions on complex public health regulations.

In the 16 months since the virus first took hold in Ireland, gardaí nationwide have had millions of interactions with people. As the vast majority in society have been adhering to public health regulations or came into adherence when requested to do so, only a very small proportion of these interactions resulted in a breach of public health regulations. A number of independent surveys have found high levels of public satisfaction and support for our approach to policing during the pandemic.

In line with prevailing public health advice and regulations, people were asked not to attend crowded areas or organise or attend large gatherings such as protests. As with all planned protests that An Garda Síochána is aware of, Garda management seeks to engage with the group or groups planning the protests and advises them of their responsibilities. A decision as to whether any event takes place rests solely with the organisers. It is important to note that An Garda Síochána does not have a role in licensing or approving protests. Any Garda activity as events evolved was in line with our graduated policing response. Where crowds gather, it is our responsibility to protect public safety and prevent and investigate any offences, as they occur. An Garda Síochána has been consistent in this response, based on our tradition of policing by consent. The gardaí involved in a number of policing operations during the pandemic demonstrated professionalism in what were potentially very dangerous circumstances. The Covid-19 pandemic is now hopefully beginning to subside and the lessons will be learned by all of us, including An Garda Síochána. Already our strong connection with communities nationwide is a source of encouragement for us.

As part of the Government’s Resilience and Recovery 2021: The Path Ahead plan, An Garda Síochána will be continuing to support health advice and measures to protect the public. In that context, we share the common objective with each of the stakeholders here to protect the Irish people and the communities in which they live. I hope that these observations have been of interest to the committee and I look forward to further discussions.