Garda Commissioner misses the point, failing to take responsibility for force’s safety and welfare
THE Irish Mail On Sunday last week revealed the shocking story that members of Garda management and the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) were informed that holsters issued to gardaí were not fit for purpose, nine months before two tragic incidents – in one case leaving Detective Colm Horkan dead, and in another a member of the force with lifechanging injuries – because of issues with those holsters.
When Commissioner Drew Harris was this week questioned on this twice – first at the Oireachtas Justice committee by Niamh Smyth TD, and two days later at a press conference by a Mail reporter – he somehow seemed not to have grasped the import of the revelation. He failed to engage with the substance of the allegation, but confirmed that three months after Detective Horkan’s capital murder, holsters were replaced.
When pressed upon it by our reporter, he again appeared to completely and utterly miss the point. His bizarre answer to being asked if he had failed Detective Horkan was to suggest that the mentally unwell killer, Stephen Silver, somehow was at fault for the catastrophic failure of equipment issued by Garda HQ.
The idea that the safety of Garda officers is the responsibility of those who seek to cause injury, whether in their right minds or not, is so absurd it would be laughable if it were not related to the most serious of crimes. Capital murder, in case the Commissioner needs to be reminded, occupies a special place on the statute books in this Republic, it being the last offence for which execution was sanctioned before the death penalty was completely abolished by referendum in 2001.
Had Garda Horkan been issued with a holster that was fit for purpose, like the one issued by management after his death in June 2020, it is unlikely Silver would have overpowered him, or ended up murdering him.
The Commissioner’s glib response, and his subsequent suggestion – that just because members of the force did not get the issue across his or GSOC’s desk before the tragedies occurred means that he somehow is not to blame – is beneath contempt.
Arguing that this dereliction of duty is not at his door is remarkable. Last time we checked, the safety and welfare of all Garda officers is still the Commissioner’s responsibility. If this issue did not come on his radar, he should now be asking why it did not. Instead of fobbing off questions, he should be as outraged as this newspaper and the Irish public are, that such a weakness and vulnerability was allowed in the first place, and was corrected only after the ultimate sacrifice by Garda hero Colm Horkan. And he should get to the bottom of why that is.
MANAGING MOBILES IN THE CLASSROOM
EDUCATION Minister Norma Foley deserves credit for her considered approach to a problem that has been evident for a considerable time. Previously, some might have thought the best solution to combat the use of mobile phones by pupils in schools was the introduction of legislation to ban them outright.
But mindful of the success of voluntary schemes for phone use restrictions among families mainly with children of primary school age, the Government is to be commended for taking a community-led approach that keeps parents at the centre of the decision-making process.