Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

It is a pity that the Minister, in his limited wisdom — a phrase used by Mr. Conor Brady, a member of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, in this context to describe the previous Minister — is rejecting the call for such an examination. Is the Minister aware that one of the costliest ongoing Garda operations is that taking place in Bellanaboy? Is he further aware that last year Mr. Joe Gannon, the superintendent in charge there said in response to an interview for an article in the Garda Review that:

There were no arrests. That was part of our strategy: we did not want to facilitate anyone down there with a route to martyrdom. That has been the policy ever since.

Is the Minister aware that policy has resulted in 70 complaints being made to the Garda Ombudsman because the Garda approach has been one of substituting lawful arrest with its own form of brute enforcement in the area and that this included brutal and cowardly assaults on protestors by members of the Garda Síochána? Is he also aware that the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission is in agreement with Sinn Féin that a review of the Garda approach would help reduce the potential for further abuses, but would also reduce the number of complaints?

I ask the Minister, in his limitless wisdom, in contrast to the phrase used to describe the previous Minister, to give serious consideration to this matter, given the extent of Garda resources dedicated to policing, crowd and protest management in the Bellanaboy area. Will the Minister allow the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission to do its job more efficiently by undertaking a general investigation into how the gardaí police protests and crowd control?

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