Ms Niamh McDonald:

I have had a great deal of engagement with many of the different communities across the country that are experiencing this. From what I hear back, the response by the Garda is very uneven. Many gardaí do not seem to understand the dynamics of the far right and what is happening. There seems to be a disconnect between what is happening on the ground and what is happening higher up in the force. We hear reports that gardaí are monitoring and watching the situation. When local communities try to engage with local gardaí, however, the latter do not seem to understand the dynamics.

It is not clear if they are monitoring or watching this. Celbridge is an example that we could look at. For 36 hours before the incident that occurred there, disinformation appeared online of a savage attack on someone who was inside the centre. This got whipped up by a known far-right agitator who was in the crowd that night. When the locals contacted the Garda, it stated that it knew nothing about what was happening. They did not have a policing operation or plan in place. As stated earlier, this left people who were seeking asylum and those in the community who were just trying to get home that night at risk.

We had thought that, after the riots in November, issues would be taken more seriously. I do not want to call it lackadaisical, but we are still not seeing a proactive approach. According to our feedback, gardaí are saying that they have not been given an operational plan, so they do not know how to respond.