Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)

I wish to raise a matter of very serious importance, namely the use of pepper spray by An Garda Síochána. My concerns arise from what happened last Saturday at Dublin Port. A group of protesters went to the port in solidarity as we approach two years since the genocide in Gaza began, and in light of Ireland’s continued favourable trade with Israel. This was part of a global movement. In Italy last Friday, for example, workers held a general strike to try to stop the barbarism and bloodshed. The protesters at Dublin Port, who were entirely peaceful, met a large cordon of gardaí who blocked their path and prevented them from progressing. The gardaí then proceeded to use pepper spray indiscriminately, without any verbal warning and at a distance closer than the recommended 1 metre minimum. Gardaí also had riot shields and used long batons on the day.

I have a statement issued by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties following the events. It states it was gravely concerned by the heavy-handed policing approach to the protest. It refers to the indiscriminate use of pepper spray and states any use of force by gardaí must always be proportionate and necessary, in line with Garda policies.

Let me set out what Garda policies stipulate and how they were breached. Human-rights law provides broad protection for the right to peaceful protest. It actually protects the right to block a road. The only ground upon which gardaí can use pepper spray is if they fear violence is being used directly against them. The UNHRC specifically notes that mere pushing or shoving or anything like that, which was not even the case at the port because people were just walking, does not constitute or amount to a threat or to violence. Independent legal observers were present on behalf of the ICCL on the day and will, I hope, provide a report.

I turn to the Garda’s own regulations on the use of pepper spray. They state gardaí must always consider non-physical approaches, obviously. Paragraph 1.4 states the fundamental principle underpinning the use of pepper spray is that it must comply with the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality and accountability and is not to be used in a non-discriminatory manner. The regulations also state: "Every effort should be made to resolve an incident without resorting to the use of force." They add that gardaí "should avoid extended or repeat uses of Incapacitant Spray". That certainly did not happen.

A councillor there on the day gave witness testimony. A young member of my own party who works with me went down with her friends. She is in her 20s and was not even particularly taking part in the protest and was sprayed with pepper spray. I want to make it very clear that this is double strength pepper spray that the Garda is now using. The impact of it was felt by people for more than two days. Women I know who were the victims of this told me that they showered about three times and they were still burning the next day. There was absolutely no justification in using that type of what is basically chemical warfare against peaceful protesters. There was no threat of violence. This pepper spray was not used at the race riot, for example, when gardaí were under attack. I think it was being used for a different reason. There had been an effective protest the previous week that had an impact at the port. By the way, people are entitled to do that. The Garda was determined that would not happen again and it wanted to send a message to pro-Palestine protestors not to go to the port again. That is what I think happened.

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