Because a number of people are missing today, I propose we defer discussion of accounts and financial statements and correspondence and move on to the work programme. On the work programme, Inland Fisheries Ireland is due in. There is an issue in that the Accounting Officer is unable to attend due to illness. He has notified the committee of that. When IFI comes before us, a replacement will take the place of the Accounting Officer and that person will have the authority to report and answer questions on IFI. Is that agreed? Agreed.
The only other agenda item is any other business. If there is no other business, I will just ask members to consider doing a report on the national lottery, which came before us, over the coming months, subject to the agreement of the full committee. Perhaps we should bring that proposal before a meeting at which there is better attendance.
Is it agreed to defer consideration of correspondence until our meeting on 11 April? Agreed. Is it also agreed to defer consideration of accounts and financial statements? Agreed. The next meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts will be on 11 April, when the University of Limerick will come before us.
]]>Is it agreed that the clerk will seek any follow-up information and carry out any agreed actions? Agreed. A fair bit of that is being sought.
Is it also agreed that we note and publish the opening statements and briefings for today's meeting? Agreed.
The meeting is suspended until 1.30 p.m., when we will resume in public session to address correspondence and any other business of the committee.
]]>I know hindsight is great but it seems things came apart that evening.
In terms of An Garda Síochána's structures and units, a special tactics and operations command unit was established in 2017. Of particular concern, and someone showed it to me on social media at the time, was one incident in which there was a garda in a small Ford Escort van or something like that and a group surrounded it and they were going to burn the van. There was a garda in the passenger seat. That is what it looked like in the clip on social media. The driver had gone up the road to attend to something else so the garda who was the passenger was alone in the vehicle. You could hear the conversation and the shouting between those who were going to burn it. The only thing that saved it was that there was someone in the back whom they knew and were associated with. There was a prisoner in the secure area in the back.
There were a couple more incidents. There was one also on social media of a garda standing near what looked like O'Connell Bridge. He was left in a situation in which he did not seem to have a baton or anything and was left isolated, on his own, surrounded by a crowd and caught in a very difficult situation. There was another incident in which two gardaí cycled right into the middle of the whole thing. The bicycles were literally taken off them and they had to flee into a licensed premises for their own safety.
I want to try to be fair. I know, particularly in a riot situation, you cannot plan for what is going to happen because things evolve, change, escalate quickly and dangerous situations can arise in which people may have to move around. Rank-and-file gardaí told me they contacted each other on WhatsApp and their own mobile phones and that people were, without any command or structure, basically being urged by their colleagues in the Dublin area to get into Dublin because they needed help. People answered that call, including people who were off duty. I do not mean this in a smart way but I have seen the Garda being very effective at policing situations and generally there is good policing of demonstrations and protests. It works grand and there is a bit of co-operation between the organisers and the Garda. Where there is the level of violence we saw that day, if there is a special tactics and operations command unit which was established in 2017, what happened on that day that there seemed to be no co-ordination? There did not seem to be any kind of co-ordination or strategy to try to deal with or get on top of the situation. Gardaí were without equipment. Who sent gardaí into those situations where they were left isolated like that, on their own?
]]>We see cases involving €10 million or €11 million and there are multiple suppliers. Not everybody may want to do it. They may be too busy or unable to get mechanics, for example, in the case of the motor trade, and they may not be in a position to provide the services. Perhaps the Garda Commissioner could give us a report on what is outstanding and has not been competitively tendered.
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