Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased that the Minister is here with us. The issue I raise concerns the criteria applied in the deployment of members of the Garda emergency response units or any other specialist entity within the force and the operational guidelines that apply once they are deployed. The matter has been prompted by an experience in my community two weeks ago. Before I left for Leinster House this day two weeks ago, Tuesday, 26 March, my home town and the wider community were awash with speculation about what had happened in Monaghan town that morning. The speculation had built by the weekend when I returned and had been fuelled by the absence of any explanation for what had actually taken place.

What is known is that a significant number of heavily armed members, clad in black, of some section of An Garda Síochána had been deployed in the town. There were reports of raids on buildings in the town centre and at least one domestic dwelling in a housing estate off a main approach road to the town. A man was reported as having jumped or fallen from a second floor window onto the street below and sustained at least one broken leg and possibly other injuries. Was he the subject of interest or one of a number of subjects of interest for An Garda Síochána? We do not know. What type of operation would give rise to such a deployment? Why was there such a show of heavily armed and presumably highly trained armed gardaí on the streets? We still do not know the reason for it.

In response to an inquiry from the local newspaper, the Northern Standard, the Garda press office issued the following:

Gardaí executed a search warrant at premises on Dublin Street in Monaghan at about 11 am on 26th March. During the course of the search a man was injured. The man was later treated for leg injuries in hospital. No arrests were made. The matter has been referred to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. There were no shots fired or anyone stabbed and no search took place at a named facility within the wider community.

That is the end of the statement and it is the only information that has been released to date of which I am aware. The statement is not wholly accurate. It says much less than what people already knew. Why is that? It refers to 11 a.m. but much of what took place happened at least two hours earlier that morning. It states that a search warrant was executed on premises in the town's Dublin Street. What were the members of the Garda expecting in the execution of this and other searches in Monaghan that morning? The deployment of a significant number of heavily-armed members of An Garda Síochána suggests they expected to be met by a level of serious resistance or, perhaps, firepower. Why else would they present such a show in such strength?

At a time when transparency and accountability are expected to be normal elements in the relationship between those who are entrusted to carry out the function of policing and those on whose behalf they act, the people of Ireland and its component communities, an explanation, a context or some level of openness should apply. No such explanation, context or openness has been given or displayed in this instance. Within whatever restrictions may apply, and I can understand this might be the case with regard to certain aspects, will the Minister offer my community an explanation or context for what took place?

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